By Elliott West
“I’ve always fancied having my own club. I’ve been looking at opening one in Cwm or the Ebbw Vale area for some time but nothing came up. Simon asked me to go in shares with him here and I decided to go for it.”
Mark Williams
Introduction
Situated in Georgetown, a Welsh village just south of Tredegar where snooker greats such as Ray Reardon and Cliff Wilson grew up and played, is the once named Tredegar Snooker Hall. In 2010 the club got a new lease of life when the then two times World Champion Mark Williams decided to purchase the club. A joint venture between himself and Tredegar businessman Simon Griffiths, this was a brave venture, especially with Mark’s hectic diary with the numerous tournaments in the snooker calendar. A partnership that allowed the partners to both have shares in the project.
A Dream come True
Seizing the bull by the horns, Mark and his team set out to transform the club and bring it back to a standard for a modern setting. Using the tables there, all were stripped down and given a new lease of life. A place where people could come to play snooker, meet old friends and make new ones, laugh and have a few drinks. Having previously played in a snooker club in Bargoed, Williams decided to transfer his practice time to this club
Now the pride of Park Place, a legion of players have come here to practice and play in the numerous snooker exhibitions that take place here. In fact, before Doug Mountjoy became ill and sadly passed away in 2021, the Welsh legend used to regularly practice for several hours on one of the snooker tables. He even made a 134 break here with Mark Williams currently leading the Breakboard in the club with an impressive 151 break. The club has also been visited by Ray Reardon and most recently by Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry. The club also enthuses new talent with the promising players, Duane Jones and Jackson Page having practised and played here.
Still retaining its original exterior, the club retains the spirit of this former mining community. In fact, Mark, originally from Cwm used to accompany his Dad on the pickets in this area during the notorious miner’s strike that dominated the newspaper headlines between 1984 and 1985.
Afterthoughts
A brave and daring venture by Mark Williams but one that has certainly paid off. The Mark Williams Snooker Club has worked because of so much hard work behind the scenes. Mark and the likes of the co-owner Simon Griffiths and his good friend Lee Walker now running the club and Liam Davies’s dad, Leyton as manager, have enthused the local community and attracted familiar faces from the snooker tour to this now Welsh hub of snooker. Its attractive facilities allow those who visit to play either pool or snooker on the numerous tables in the club. A snooker club that is definitely worth visiting and a place that is a key component of the Welsh snooker scene.
