Save our snooker hall! Petition launched over plans to turn popular Kettering venue into flats

More than 500 people have signed a petition to save an under-threat Kettering snooker hall from being turned into flats.

Developers Certain Security Limited want to demolish Cuetopia, formerly known as Spot On, and replace it with 30 apartments in a three-floor ‘superstructure’ on top of the retail units below.

One trader below the Montagu Street snooker hall – who had no idea about the plan until our reporter told them – branded the bid ‘bananas’, with concerns about parking also raised.

And now locals have made their feelings known through a petition and by lodging objections to the plan with North Northamptonshire Council (NNC).

The petition, set up by Fay Grove, said: “With over 6,000 members, 11+ members of staff and 30 years of business, this is a place that has for a large part been the heart of the community, where people have grown up going to and are now bringing the next generation.

"This is a place welcoming of all ages and skill as a community spot, a welcoming space with something to do when the town has so little left in the entertainment industry.”

Documents submitted to NNC as part of the plan said the upper floor of the site – which is home to Cuetopia – would be ‘wholly demolished’ and that the ground floor retail units would be retained.

Certain Security Limited want to create a ‘superstructure’ with three floors above the ground floor and carried on it. Plans say it would have 20 one-bed apartments on the first two levels of dwellings and 10 two-bed apartments with additional office space on the next level above and into the roof space. There would be bicycle storage space but no parking spaces. Planning documents say it is proposed that residents are not car owners and that any deliveries to the building can park in Montagu Street or Silver Street.

But many Kettering residents say they do not want the plan to go ahead, including town snooker star Kyren Wilson who said it would be a ‘shame’ for it to happen.

In an objection submitted to NNC, one resident said: “Trading the snooker club for flats would just be another blow to the town centre which is already on death’s door.”

Another said: “Turning a community hub into a soulless block of flats and further damaging the town centre cannot be allowed to happen.”

And a third said: “To lose the snooker hall would be a travesty.”

The petition added: “We need to act now before Kettering loses a real place of community and importance, not just for the pool and snooker community but as a safe space shared by many.”

To sign the petition, visit https://www.change.org/p/save-our-pool-snooker-hall-object-planning-permission-9-montagu-street.

To view the developer’s plans and have your say, visit https://www.kettering.gov.uk/planningApplication/133330. The consultation expiry date is January 15.

Kettering Town Council, who do not have the final say over planning decisions, will meet on January 10 to discuss the plan and submit their thoughts to NNC, who will decide whether the application is approved or rejected at a later date.