By elliott West
Having just watched a Jimmy White interview about snooker exhibitions, I was fascinated by something he said and so decided to write a piece about it. Back in 1903 the clothing retailer Burtons was founded by Sir Montague Morris Burton. Originally trading as a tailor, Burtons has traded in various formats over the years providing affordable clothes and was a key distributor of the demob suit post World War Two.
My interest however surrounds the retailer in the 1920’s when in 1923 Montague Burton began to purchase a swathe of buildings across England, choosing town centre corner buildings so they had a prominent place on the high street. Using a Leeds based architect, Harry Wilson, the company created a unique style of store using Art Deco. It was during this period that Burtons used the upper space of the building to create a billiards hall and these existed above most stores. From Burtons perspective this was a sales pitch and a means of targeting 18-30 year olds charging an annual fee to play in the hall, a fee that covered the running costs. This hall would also draw in trade because players would often purchase their suits and to soften the costs people would be offered the option to choose a pre paid suit. Over the years these halls moulded the snooker players of post war Britain. Manchester, for example became a hotbed of snooker attracting players such as Alex Higgins, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo and Ken Doherty to practise and plays in these clubs. Rather like the shop beneath it, Burtons snooker clubs were an industry and attracted potential and established players.
However Burtons were great with their selling technique, naming the halls by independent names. For example in Leeds you had a snooker hall called Nelsons Billiards Hall with several tables. A former employee remembers in 1969 playing there during his lunch break while members of the Liverpool football team waited to play. The hall run by two sisters, served cups of tea and bacon sandwiches.
Unlike today, many players earned very little money from the professional circuit alone and so had to play in exhibitions across the country as well. As a result of this many had to turn to Burtons as a means of providing suits for their matches. So rather like a “carrot and stick” method, players would hire a suit and then go and play in the hall or vice versa.
Sadly many of these buildings have been demolished or sold off over the years and the snooker halls went with them but traces of them can still be seen be seen in some city centres with the first McDonald’s restaurants being housed there in the 1970’s.
