Players snookered as council changes locks

A snooker club in Wolverhampton could be forced to close after council officials changed the locks on its doors.

Bradmore Snooker Club members can no longer gain access to the building, which houses all the pool tables.

The club has been based at Bradmore Community Centre in Birches Barn Road, Penn Fields, for more than 60 years and members recently forked out £1,400 to buy new balls and refurbish the tables. Members say they were told by the centre's management committee they needed to raise more money to keep the club going.

They say the doors were locked without warning a few days later.

The club's long-standing secretary Brian Jones, aged 72, now fears for the future of the club, which he said was not in debt.

"It feels like the council is trying to shut us out," he said. "We held a meeting with the Bradmore Community Association in September and were told we needed to raise more money to use the hall.

"We said we would double the charges and recruit more members but the committee said this was not good enough.

"A few days later we turned up to play snooker and our keys didn't work in the locks. Members pay a £10 annual fee and 15p a game, and the club also pays £100 a year affiliation fees to the community association."

Wolverhampton City Council owns the building, which opened as Bradmore Village School in 1928. The snooker club formed in 1948 and has been using the centre, which houses three snooker tables, ever since.

Mr Jones, of Richmond Avenue, added: "I think the council want to save money and we are an easy target. The annoying thing is no-one is talking to us to tell us what is going on.

"I've put 20 years of unpaid work into this club and I've never had problems like this. Our members have all paid their £10 membership and now they can't even access the facilities."

The snooker club meets tonight at 7pm to discuss the issue. Wolverhampton City Council was today unavailable for comment.