Thurston's Hall was a major

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

venue between 1901 and 1955 in

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

, London. The hall was in the premises of Thurston & Co. Ltd which relocated to Leicester Square in 1901. The building was bombed in 1940 and reopened under a new name, Leicester Square Hall, and new management in 1947. The venue closed in 1955 and the building was demolished to make way for an extension to

Fanum House Fanum House is the headquarters of the Automobile Association in Basingstoke, in the English county of Hampshire. It is one of several current and former AA buildings named "Fanum House" around the country. The original headquarters in Leiceste ...

. The Hall was used for many important billiards and snooker matches, including 12

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

finals between 1930 and 1953. It was also the venue of the first World Snooker Championship match in November 1926. The hall was sometimes referred to as "Thurston's Grand Hall". There was also a "Minor Hall" in the same building.

Opening

Thurston Billiards-Matchhall Walter Lindrum vs

In 1900 Thurston & Co. Ltd. were forced to relocate from their premises at 16 Catherine Street because it was in the way of a new street from

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

to the

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

. They moved to 45-46

and built new premises there, including a "match room" which became known as "Thurston's Hall". The first important event hosted at the new venue was the Billiards Association American tournament. This was a round-robin handicap event featuring 8 professionals and ran from 7 to 12 October 1901. The event resulted in a tie between

William Peall William Peall (often known as W. J. Peall) was an English player of English billiards. He won the 1892 Billiard Association Billiard Championship, which can be regarded as the equivalent of the world billiards championship. Biography Peall w ...

and

Harry Stevenson Harry W. Stevenson (1874-1944) was an English champion player of English billiards. He held the world professional title in billiards five times, including two times that he was declared champion without playing. Biography Stevenson was bor ...

, with 6 wins out of 7. There was a play-off on the Monday. Peall received 100 start but Stevenson won 500–395.

Bombing

On 16 October 1940, during

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, the Leicester Square premises were destroyed by a parachute mine which demolished the south-western corner of the square. Only two minor injuries were reported. The building was housing an "exhibition of billiards antiquities" at the time and many of the items were destroyed. The last major event at the hall was the

English Amateur Billiards Championship The English Amateur Billiards Championship, organised by the English Amateur Billiards Association (EABA), is a tournament in the game of English billiards dating back to March 1888. In the first championship, Hugh Lonsdale of Manchester defeated ...

which was won, on 5 April, by

Kingsley Kennerley Kingsley Kennerley (27 December 1913 – 26 June 1982) was an English billiards and snooker player. Career In the period from 1937 to 1940 Kennerley enjoyed considerable success as an amateur in both billiards and snooker. He won the English Am ...

for the fourth successive time. A "summer" professional snooker tournament was started on 15 April but was abandoned in May.

Reopening

The hall reopened under new management as the Leicester Square Hall in October 1947.

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game i ...

and Sidney Smith played an exhibition match from 6 to 11 October. Davis, conceding 10 points per frame, won 38–33. This was followed by the final of the

1947 World Snooker Championship The 1947 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 January to 25 October 1947. The final was held at the Leicester Square Hall in London, England, from 13 to 25 October. The semi-finals were completed ...

between

Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (February 15, 1893 – July 15, 1947) was an American prolific popular songwriter and publishing company founder, composing many hit songs of the 1910s to 1940s, that have become standards and form part of the Great American Song ...

and Fred Davis. The match was over 145 frames and was played from 13 to 25 October. Donaldson won the match 82–63, having taken a winning lead of 73–49 on the previous afternoon. Fred Davis made a 135 clearance in frame 86, just one short of the championship record.

Closure

The last competitive match at the hall was played from 13 to 15 January 1955 between

and his brother,

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...

. This was the final match of the 1954/55 News of the World Tournament. Joe won the match 19–18 but the tournament was won by

Jackie Rea John Joseph "Jackie" Rea (6 April 1921 – 20 October 2013) was a Northern Irish snooker player. He was the leading Irish snooker player until the emergence of Alex Higgins. Rea reached the semi-final of the 1952 World Championship losing to ...

, Joe finishing in second place. Joe made a 137 clearance on the final day.

compiled the first officially recognised maximum break at Leicester Square Hall on Saturday 22 January 1955 in a match against 68-year-old fellow Englishman Willie Smith. The match between Davis and Smith was played as part of a series of events marking the closure of Leicester Square Hall. The

Billiards Association and Control Council The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) (formerly called the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC)) was the governing body of the games of English billiards and snooker and organised professional and amateur championships ...

initially refused to accept the break since the match was not played under their rules. At the time the professionals played using a rule (now standard) whereby after a foul a player could compel the offender to play the next stroke. It was only at a meeting on 20 March 1957 that they recognised the break. Davis was presented with a certificate to commemorate the event. From 17 to 22 January Joe Davis played Willie Smith at both billiards and snooker. In the snooker match Smith received 28 points in each frame but, despite this handicap, Davis won the match by 23 frames to 13. The final match was a snooker contest, played on level terms, between Joe and Fred Davis from 24 to 29 January. The contents were auctioned off on 2 February with the match table on which Davis had made his maximum break being sold for 270 guineas.

References

{{World Snooker Championship Snooker in England Snooker venues Sports venues completed in 1901