City on cue for £7.5m boost as snooker tournament returns

YORK’S economy is due to receive a multi-million pound boost from the return of the UK Snooker Championship to the revamped Barbican.

The showpiece event, which has a global audience of as many as 50 million, has been heralded as the biggest coup yet for the newly-renovated venue.

It is hoped that the tournament will bring in more than £7.5m to the city’s economy when it returns in December, five years after it was last held in York.

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A £2m renovation is being carried out by entertainment company SMG Europe Ltd before the Barbican reopens its doors next month.

SMG Theatres finance and commercial director Steve Exley said: “People will want to come to York for a city break while the championships are on, which will mean that they will be staying in hotels and visiting the city’s tourist attractions.

“We do already have an impressive list of events at the Barbican, but this is the biggest coup so far.”

Mr Exley added: “We have been in talks since the end of last year to bring the championships back to York because we are aware how much it means to the people of the city to have it staged here.”

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Visit York’s chief executive, Gillian Cruddas, welcomed the return of the championship to help ensure the city maintains its position in the hugely competitive tourism market. She said “sports tourism” was a key area that had been identified to bolster the city’s multi-million pound industry.

The snooker tournament, which carries prize money of £625,000, was staged in York from 2001 until 2006, but it moved to Telford in Shropshire after the York venue closed five years ago.

The UK Snooker Championship will take place in the city between December 3 and 11.

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