This afternoon I happened to be in York and while there I drove past the Barbican Centre, best known to snooker fans as being the venue for the UK Championship between 2001-6. While it looks nice on my photo from 2005, it is in a very different state today…
Yes the Barbican Centre was almost unrecognisable as from what I could see the inside had been totally gutted and there looked to be some unfinished building work on the outside. While I doubt it would take a great deal of work to get it sorted, it was a shame to see such a nice venue go to waste as it is at the moment.
Further investigation led me to the following article on the York Press. In short it would appear that Absolute Leisure Ltd, the company behind the renovations, have failed to pay the required deposit in time meaning that the deal is now off and the future of the venue uncertain.
Since then this article has come to light which suggests that moves are now afoot to secure a new deal for the venue which will hopefully see it restored to its former glory.
So why am I so interested in this? I have seen it suggested in certain places that the UK Championship could be set to return to York following a couple of years in Telford and though World Snooker have recently stated that they are perfectly happy with the current venue, the rumours persist.
Personally I hope that the Championship does return to York, though I can totally understand that it is good for the Midlands to have a major tournament and see why they would like to retain it too. There is something special about York at Christmas though and I think that everyone involved with the tournament enjoyed it being staged there in the past.
One thing for sure though however is that the venue will have to improve significantly from how it looks at the moment if it is to even be considered as the stage for snooker’s second biggest prize…