By Elliott West
“Its better to have lived one day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep”
Introduction
Situated in Attenborough House, Charles Street, Leicester for many years was the Willie Thorne Snooker Club. Opened by Willie’s brother, Malcolm and his mother, Nancy in 1981, this was a family run business with additional input from his two other brothers, Rob and Willie. A hive of snooker activity, the club was famous across the country for its 128 player tournaments that attracted players from around the world. Malcolm was the mastermind of this thriving business and inspired so many snooker players to pick up a cue and eventually turn professional. These included Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Ben Woollaston, Tom Ford, Brian Cakebread, Stefan Mazrocis and Eddie Manning.
A Snooker Factory
The Willie Thorne Snooker Club pulsated with talent and was an establishment that was a key figure in helping the grassroots of snooker in this country. Both juniors and professionals flocked to this club when invited and Malcolm Thorne can definitely be accredited for helping a generation of young players. With the assistance of referees such as Rob Wright, the building was one that created snooker history on a seismic scale.
Malcolm’s mother, Nancy would not only do the accounts but also had an open-door policy in her home, allowing many of the top professionals of the time to stay in the Thorne residence, providing hospitality and food, most notably the infamous Sunday Roast whilst they played in whatever exhibition or tournament at the club. Both the home and the club were places that you felt welcomed and appreciated. Whether it was a Pro-Am or a junior tournament played on a Saturday night, the family were brilliant at organising events.
Situated in the upstairs of the building, and the main room had high ceilings, creating acoustics that resembled those in a cathedral. Table 1 was Willie’s table, a BCE table and one where he made his numerous 147 breaks. This was a snooker table that players would literally clamber over each other to play on. There was seating either end of the room and the club boasted a massive old-fashioned scoreboard and large gilt-framed photographs of WT and the Mercantile Credit Classic trophy, his only major ranking title.
The Thorne Legacy
Sadly Malcolm parted with the club and sold it to other companies. Without Malcolm and his family there, the place literally began to crumble and the new owners, eventually asked Malcolm back to manage it again, bringing back in the punters to this snooker magnet. Sadly Malcolm was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer soon afterwards, leaving him in an understandably low and depressed state. However, he battled on to the end and still went to the club when he could. Malcolm passed away in 2011 from his cancer and his brother, Willie was to follow in 2020, losing his life after a battle with Leukaemia. A snooker dynasty that fired life into a former motor taxation office and reaped the joys of making dreams reality.
