Matchroom History

The Terry Griffiths Matchroom was set up in 1987 by former World Professional Snooker champion, Terry Griffiths. It had always been Terry's dream to set up a top class snooker club in his home town of Llanelli. After a long search for suitable premises, Terry came across the Ritz Buildings, and old dance hall, and his dream became a reality.

A run down snooker hall was already in place on the first floor and in June 1987 Terry, Wayne and a number of workmen set about knocking down the old to make ready for the new. After 4 months, 3 off 20 tonne lorries and approx. 80 skips full of rubbish the old club was stripped out and the new club started to take shape. Work went on through the night before the official opening which eventually took place on September 20th, 1987.

That was over 20 years ago and the Terry Griffiths Matchroom has built up quite a reputation during this period. Weekly Pro-Am events were hugely popular during the early 90s and exceptional snooker talents including Dominc Dale, Tony Chappel, Steve Newbury, Wayne Jones, Matthew Stevens, Darren Morgan and Mark J Williams regularly attended these events for high level match practice. A world record was set during one of these Buckley Pro-Am events, when 3 maximum 147s in the same competition on the same day were achieved!

The Matchroom has always been well supported locally and has seen thousands of members join up to experience the high quality snooker facilities. Regular exhibition matches are organised and the greats of the game including Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Jimmy White and Matthew Stevens have played in sell out events at the Matchroom.

More recently the Matchroom has forged links with local schools in an attempt to offer alternative sporting activities to children. A weekly Junior Club, held every Sunday, sees anywhere between 20 and 40 children attending for competitions and training. Support from Carmarthenshire County Council in the form of an under 14 and an under 18 event will be joined in 2010 by a formally structured after school programme, aiming to increase participation and earmark future talent.