Threatened snooker club backs bid to have site listed
BBC/Phil HarrisonA snooker club which has been threatened with closure after plans were unveiled to demolished its building is hoping plans to have the site listed will be approved.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC), which is the landlord of the Victoria Snooker Centre's building, is seeking to revamp the area and build a new cinema.
However, plans to demolish the snooker club's building as part of the regeneration could face a barrier if the site becomes protected with a listed status.
The council said its proposals recognised and respected the architecture and historic streetscape of the area, and that it had engaged with the stakeholder groups.
The emergency application for listing was submitted by The Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society to English Heritage.
The body says it is reviewing comments and writing a report to send to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which will make a decision.
Graham Martin, who owns the club, says the Victorian building it is housed in on Camden Road has "the wow factor".
A campaign had been launched to save the club as Martin said it would not survive if it had to move from its current site, on two floors of the Former Friendly Societies Building, which was built in 1878.
BBC/Phil HarrisonMr Martin added "We have all sorts of people come here for a game, including a couple of community groups.
"We don't charge, and we give them three tables on a Tuesday. Where will these vulnerable people go if we close?"
Alastair Tod from the Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society, has backed the site becoming a listed building.
"It was where the various voluntary organisations of the 19th century came together to form a place where they could meet," he said.
"There were more than 20 of them. They were self-help organisations of the Victorian type, in the days before national insurance, where the members of any particular trade supported one another if they were unemployed or sick."
BBC/Phil HarrisonTod, who supports a new cinema being built in Tunbridge Wells, said the society believed the building to be "the only one of its type surviving".
"It was a very strong movement, particularly in the north and it's terrifically important that Tunbridge Wells has such a fine example," he added.
The council said it had applied for a certificate of immunity from listing and was awaiting a decision from the government.
It said its development would "deliver a new cinema, food and drink and leisure facilities which residents have told us they want to see in order to increase the vibrancy and evening economy of the town centre".
The local authority said it continued to "seek constructive discussions" regarding the future of the snooker club.
