Demolition of Peter Ebdon snooker club refused

Peter Ebdon practised at the club and went on to become world champion in 2002

A plan to demolish a snooker club where the former world champion Peter Ebdon used to practise has been turned down.

The proposal involved building affordable homes on the site of the Windmill Club in Rushden, Northamptonshire.

The 2024 world champion Kyren Wilson also practised at the venue.

Planning officers at North Northamptonshire Council said the project would result in the loss of a valuable community facility and would provide "substandard living conditions for future occupiers".

The club has been standing since 1927

The three-storey snooker and social club on Glassbrook Road was built in 1927.

Wilson, from Kettering, and Ebdon, who grew up in Wellingborough, enjoyed many happy hours playing snooker together at the club with the older player acting as a mentor.

When it applied for permission to knock the building down, the developer, Venture Properties Group (VPG), said "social and working men's clubs nationwide [are] experiencing a prolonged decline".

It added that the Windmill was too big for the number of people who were actually using it and was "financially burdensome to sustain".

VPG said every house on the development would be affordable, bringing "significant benefits for the community, including fostering social inclusion, cohesion and diversity".

The club has thanked everyone who campaigned to save it

An online petition against the demolition collected 2,476 signatures.

People who signed the petition said they did not want to lose a historic building which was an important facility for the community.

As first reported by the Evening Telegraph, the decision on the demolition proposal was made by planning officers, who said the developer had failed "to provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the community facility is no longer viable, no longer needed by the community or incapable of being retained for alternative community use".

They added the housing on the site would result in "unacceptable adverse amenity impacts on the occupiers of neighbouring dwellings".

Kyren Wilson, who played at the club with his mentor Peter Ebdon, became world champion in 2024

On social media, the snooker club thanked all those who had campaigned to keep it open and added: "We are so lucky to be surrounded by such a fantastic community and we are so pleased that we can carry on being a 'hub' for you."

A disco party has been arranged for this weekend to celebrate the refusal of the demolition plan.

The developers, VPG, have been contacted for a response.