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]
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". 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.
| Winner | Runner-up | Final score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 7–4 | [15] | |||
| 1971 | 9–2 | [16] | |||
| 1972 | John Beech | Ray Reardon | 4–3 | [17] | |
| 1973 | Graham Miles | Jim Meadowcroft | 4–1 | [18] | |
| 1975 | 5–2 | [19] | |||
| 1979 | 5–1 | [20] [21] [22] [23] |
The Castle Professional featured three professional players in a round-robin competition. Known results are shown below.
| Winner | Runner-up | Third Place | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | [24] | ||||
| 1973 (1) | [25] | ||||
| 1973 (2) | [26] | ||||
| 1973 (3) | [27] | ||||
| 1974 | [28] | ||||
| 1976 | [29] |