By Elliott West
Introduction
Tucked away down a side street in Bradford city centre, lies a snooker metropolis that few know about. A snooker gem that is of course the Bradford Club. A private members’ club that many would walk past without a second glance. However, behind the main entrance door, adorned with gleaming brass work, lies a lavishly furnished Victorian club, a place where the mighty and powerful have congregated over the years of its history.
A Snooker Paradise
Adorned with a lavish, sweeping staircase in the grand entrance, the hallway is adorned with impressive stained glass windows that transport you back in time, an age where the rooms were filled with cigar smoke and a place where Sir Titus Salt and Frederick Delius could often be spotted. In the reading room, members would recline in the spacious red leather chairs, conversing about business and politics or reading one of the many newspapers available to peruse.
However, one of the highlights of this club has to be the snooker room, a place where Victorian billiard tables are housed, complete with leather seating and a hammer-beam ceiling that allows the light to cascade into the room and produce an amazing environment to play in.
The Bradford Club first started life as the Old Bull’s Head in 1761 on Westgate with the purpose to generate good conversation and company. It then later moved to occupy premises at Upper Piccadilly and Manor Row, a location that it remained in until 1940 when it was closed due to many of its members being called away to serve in the armed forces. It then became the Bradford Club in 1955 after the amalgamation of the Bradford Liberal Club and the Bradford and County Conservative Club. It then merged again in 1977 with the Union Club and has remained in its present location for the last 150 years.
The current President of the Bradford Club, Tony Emmott, first became a member in the 1970s when he was a young and budding solicitor. A place that he frequented largely at lunchtime, a place where he could meet others from his profession over a good meal. However with the death of the hour-long lunch break and people now preferring a quick sandwich as opposed to a liquid lunch, preferring to network across the worldwide web.
This has caused a major headache for the club in its continued battle for survival. Membership numbers have dwindled over the years with the Bradford Club now only having 200 members, an establishment that is one of the few left in the country. It has meant that the club has had to find various ways to diversify, allowing many film companies to shoot here, ranging from Miss Marple to the Great Train Robbery. A building that is also perfect for period dramas.
