Green light for new Sheffield snooker venue, as council approves club plans days before world championship
Plans to open a new snooker venue in Sheffield have been approved just over a week before the city hosts the sport’s world championships.
Sheffield Council approved plans for a new venue near Petre Street, just before the famous tournament starts at the Crucible Theatre.
Club 400 wants to convert a site which was used by the tarpaulin and sandbags manufacturers Mudfords into snooker rooms, which would be available for players to hire.
Now Sheffield Council has given the plans the go ahead, after receiving no objections to the scheme, and with officials confident it would not cause any traffic problems. The council approved the plans on April 10. The Snooker championships start on April 18.
A council report into the plans said: “The submitted drawings show there to be 16 parking bays (off-street) available.
“Evening time would be the most popular period for the proposed use. The existing and ongoing users of the other parts of the building would be most likely to be present during the daytime periods, thereby spreading the parking demand throughout the day.
“Overall, the proposal would not lead to excessive on-street parking and would not be considered to undermine local highway safety circumstances. “
The Sheffield based business had sent a planning application to Sheffield Council which would see what was previously used as a warehouse on Petre Street converted.
The company had told council officials in a statement supporting the plan: “Club 400 is a business based in Sheffield, providing snooker rooms for hire.
“The proposed development consists of a snooker centre which offers snooker rooms for hire. The space is divided internally into multiple rooms and areas for people to wait if needed.”
They added: “The building has sat vacant since the closure of the Mudfords site. The location is in an area predominately occupied of factories and other buildings used for the construction or manufacturing of products.”
Stay informed about Sheffield and South Yorkshire. Get more stories like this and the day’s top headlines with our free daily newsletter
Club 400 says its plans include adequate parking and it does not expect them to generate any extra traffic to the area.
It would be open Monday to Sunday, and run by two people full time, and two part time.
Mudfords left their former base on Petre Street, near Burngreave, two years ago, moving to a new site at Orgreave Way.