A snooker centre in Tunbridge Wells has put out a campaign to save their building

KentOnline / KMTV

As the Borough council are making plans to redevelop Royal Victoria Place for a new cinema and restaurants,  Victoria Snooker Centre says it's worried they'll lose their club in the process.  Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00To some, snooker might seem like a simple game, but actually it's far more skilful

00:04and complicated than people give it credit for.

00:08And just like the game itself, one Tunbridge Wells snooker centre are trying to prove that

00:11there's more than meets the eye when it comes to their venue.

00:14The Victoria Snooker Centre could be demolished as part of redevelopment plans to the nearby

00:18Royal Victoria Place shopping centre, but locals to the snooker hall aren't happy.

00:23They've started a campaign that's now at more than 1,600 signatures to try and change

00:27the council's mind about the hall, which has a long legacy of hosting famous players

00:31and exhibition matches, but it's the local community that's said to be the best part

00:36of the Victoria Snooker Centre.

00:38It's the second slash third home for some people.

00:41The community hub that we've created are based around a lot of the leagues we've created

00:45as well.

00:46So we run a lot of our in-house leagues, which has created a social circle of 100, 150 people

00:54playing with people they never thought they would play with.

00:56While many consider snooker a classic pub game, it's actually quite a specialist sport that

01:01needs a certain level of maintenance, space and cost to set up, which is why the centre's

01:05owners say they don't want locals to lose the Victoria.

01:08We do see a lot of snooker clubs disappearing and we don't want to be one of those.

01:13We do see that some of them are just turning into sports and social clubs, putting probably

01:17more pool tables in, which is not a problem.

01:20But in general, you know, the general consensus of where we are is snooker and we want to keep

01:27this as much of a snooker club as we can.

01:29Now, if you looked around and thought this old hall is more suited to royalty than snooker,

01:33you'd actually only be half right.

01:35And that's because this hall has hosted some of the greats of the snooker world.

01:40Mark Selby, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy White to name a few.

01:43And it's that legacy that the members and owners are trying to protect here.

01:47I was just outraged, really.

01:49This club is a thriving family business.

01:51It's been here for 30 years and under the new owners, it's done really well, especially

01:57after lockdown, because, you know, I think I'm not the only person who thought that actually

02:01I don't want my whole life to just be work and looking at my phone.

02:04I wanted something more from life and kind of a community.

02:08A Tunbridge Wells Borough Council spokesperson said all feedback will be carefully reviewed

02:13before finalising the proposals.

02:15The council is in regular contact with the owner and their representatives and a planning

02:19application is expected to be submitted around Easter 2026.

02:23For Martin, Liam and the 400-odd members of the club, they hope a compromise can be found

02:28soon so they can stay in the hall, keep the tables open and the lights on.

02:33Finn McDermid for KMTV in Tunbridge Wells.

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