Castle Snooker Club

Billiard hall in Southampton, England, 1970–2007

Premises of the Castle Club (pictured in 2021)

The Castle Snooker Club was a billiard hall at 57-59 Castle Way, Southampton, England,[1] opened in 1970 by professional snooker player Bernard Bennett.[2] Snooker historian Clive Everton described it as "the earliest of the new-style snooker establishments which were to replace the dingy, disreputable billiard halls of old."[3]

It was the venue for Bennett's 1971 challenge match against Rex Williams for the World Billiards Championship. Williams retained the title, winning by 9,250 point to 4,058.[4] The 1972 World Snooker Championship qualifying match between Bennett and Graham Miles was held at the club; Miles won 15–6.[5]

As of 1999, professional player Duncan Moore coached at the club.[6] Bennett died in 2002, having seen the Club resognised as an accredited centre by snooker's governing body.[7] The club closed in June 2007.[8]

## Castle Open

[edit]

The Castle Open was a pro-am snooker tournament staged at the Club several times during the 1970s.[9] The Billiard Association and Control Council's official magazine Billiards and Snooker described the first edition, which commenced in October 1970, as "the most ambitious Open Snooker tournament ever promoted in Britain".[10] Six professional players entered: Bennett, Ron Gross, Pat Houlihan, Jack Rea, David Taylor, and Rex Williams. Chris Ross was among the amateur participants.[10]

The 1978/79 edition, which had a prize fund of £3,500 attracted almost all of the professional players who were in the country at the time.[11] Terry Griffiths, who had turned professional that season,[12] later wrote that, "The matches were short and the prize money not all that much but because the proprietor, Bernard Bennett, is a professional who is well liked in the snooker world, there was a good turn-out of professionals to support his tournament."[13] Fred Davis reached the final at the age of 65, having eliminated Willie Thorne and Cliff Thorburn during the tournament.[14] He lost 1–5 to Alex Higgins.[15]

Castle Open  Year  | Winner  | Runner-up  | Final score  | Ref.

|
|
|
|

1970  |  Rex Williams (ENG) |  John Colpus (ENG)[a] | 7–4  | [16]
1971  |  Geoff Thompson (ENG) |  John Pulman (ENG) | 9–2  | [17]
1972  |  John Beech[a] |  Ray Reardon | 4–3  | [18]
1973  |  Graham Miles |  Jim Meadowcroft | 4–1  | [19]
1975  |  Alex Higgins (NIR) |  John Spencer (ENG) | 5–2  | [20]
1979 |  Alex Higgins (NIR) |  Fred Davis (ENG) | 5–1  | [21][22][23][15]

## Castle Professional

[edit]

The Castle Professional featured three professional players in a round-robin competition. Known results are shown below.

Castle Professional  Year  | Winner  | Runner-up  | Third Place  | Ref.

|
|
|
|

1972  |  Alex Higgins (ENG) |  John Spencer (ENG) |  Bernard Bennett (ENG) | [24]
1973 (1)  |  John Spencer (ENG) |  Alex Higgins (ENG) |  Bernard Bennett (ENG) | [25]
1973 (2)  |  Alex Higgins (ENG) |  John Pulman (ENG) |  Bernard Bennett (ENG) | [26]
1973 (3)  |  Ray Reardon (WAL) |  John Pulman (ENG) |  Bernard Bennett (ENG) | [27]
1974  |  Alex Higgins (ENG) |  John Pulman (ENG) |  Bernard Bennett (ENG) | [28]
1976  |  John Pulman (ENG) |  Patsy Fagan (IRE) |  Bernard Bennett (ENG) | [29]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Amateur; received 7 points per frame handicap

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Pioneer Bennett gave snooker a Big Break!". Daily Echo. Southampton. 30 November 1999. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
2. ^ Baxter, Trevor (21 January 2002). "Bernard Bennett". The Independent. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
3. ^ Everton, Clive (1993). The Embassy Book of World Snooker. London: Bloomsbury. p. 30\. ISBN 978-0-7475-1610-1.
4. ^ Everton, Clive (1982). The Guinness Book of Snooker (Revised ed.). Enfield: Guinness Superlatives. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-0-85112-256-4.
5. ^ "Miles and Parkin come through". World Snooker. May 1971. p. 5.
6. ^ "Pioneer Bennett gave snooker a Big Break!". Daily Echo. 30 November 1999.
7. ^ "Snooker world mourn Bennett's death". Daily Echo. 19 January 2002.
8. ^ "Q World". Daily Echo. 4 July 2009.
9. ^ "Obituaries: Bernard Bennett". Snooker Scene. February 2002. p. 47.
10. ^ a b "Ambitious new open tournament". Billiards and Snooker. October 1970. p. 4.
11. ^ "Meo and White beat pros in Castle prelims". Snooker Scene. February 1979. p. 19.
12. ^ "New professionals". Snooker Scene. June 1978. p. 27.
13. ^ Griffiths, Terry (1981). Championship Snooker. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 66\. ISBN 978-0-3620-0543-1.
14. ^ Morrison, Ian (1987). The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Snooker (Revised ed.). Twickenham: Hamlyn Publishing Group. p. 95\. ISBN 978-0-600-55604-6.
15. ^ a b "Higgins is Castle champion". The Birmingham Post. 22 January 1979. p. 12.
16. ^ "King of the Castle". World Snooker. January 1971. p. 3.
17. ^ "Thompson wins". Leicester Daily Mercury. 23 December 1971. p. 16.
18. ^ "Beech wins Castle Pro/Am". Snooker Scene. February 1973. p. 13.
19. ^ "Snooker prize for Miles". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 27 December 1973. p. 7.
20. ^ "Higgins beats Spencer - lifts £500 prize". Belfast Telegraph. 22 December 1975. p. 18.
21. ^ "Snooker: Castle pro-am tournament". Daily Mirror. 22 January 1979. p. 23.
22. ^ "Fred shows the old style". Sports Argus. 27 January 1979. p. 4.
23. ^ "Hurricane too strong for battling Fred". Daily Mirror. 22 January 1979. p. 23.
24. ^ "Higgins wins at the Castle". Snooker Scene. April 1972. p. 16.
25. ^ "Castle winner". Snooker Scene. April 1973. pp. 12–13.
26. ^ "Higgins wins". Snooker Scene. October 1973. pp. 12–13.
27. ^ "Down South". Snooker Scene. December 1973. p. 6.
28. ^ "Best of three". Snooker Scene. January 1975. p. 18.
29. ^ "Pulman is best of three". Snooker Scene. April 1976. p. 13.

50°53′57″N 1°24′17″W﻿ / ﻿50.89917°N 1.40466°W﻿ / 50.89917; -1.40466
*[Ref.]: Reference
*[ENG]: England
*[NIR]: Northern Ireland
*[WAL]: Wales
*[IRE]: Ireland