By Elliott West
Introduction
Thanks to the easing of further lockdown restrictions, this has been a momentous time for the entertainment sector, allowing many businesses to reopen yesterday. One such industry are the snooker clubs up and down the country. The doors to these establishments have been firmly bolted for quite a while now, despite previously being allowed to reopen briefly with Covid restrictions. This has ripped the heart out of the snooker community with many professional players having to practice on their tables at home while the dust covers remain firmly on the tables in snooker clubs.
Easing Back into Normality
This news couldn’t have come at a better time because snooker clubs have been on tenterhooks for some years, dwindling in numbers due to spiralling costs. A number have made way for flats or the main chain supermarket. This has meant players and snooker lovers have had to travel further to visit their nearest club. To compete, clubs have had to expand their market, providing food, late opening times, higher prices, and other niche sports such as darts.
The owners have had to be creative, offering coaching sessions, streaming live sport, and deals on food and drink to optimise their sales. This has had varying degrees of success. The club faithful attends but those are not the familiar faces, appear for a fleeting moment and disappear into the shadows of night. How do you get them to come back? That is the key to being a successful snooker club.
The Future
The future of snooker clubs is on a knife edge at the moment and we have seen the end in sight before for the pandemic. This time, the future does seem brighter, thanks to mass vaccinations . The Indian variant still remains a concern and it it hoped with the percentage of the population vaccinated and calls for further age groups to be jabbed, that we can ward off another surge of the virus.
Snooker clubs will have to batter down their hatches again and ride this crest of the wave. With the sport in a healthy place, hopefully, this will filter down to the grassroots and provide the buzz of a snooker club when you open the door. The clicks of balls, the murmur of conversation, and the sound of beer taps as pints are pulled. Snooker clubs are part of the local community and without them, that community becomes a diluted version of what it was.
