The Institute
This was a billiard and snooker hall for a time. I think Bob Armoury ran it for a while. It was built for miners and run by the colliery and the Miner’s Welfare Union. They’d take money straight out of your wages for it. It had reading rooms and lots of books upstairs and I know they’d sometimes use it for union meetings. There were eight tables, four in the main hall and two in each of the two annexes.
Another room was classed as the reading room where youngsters were not welcome . The first annex was used for skittles, a gambling game mainly played by the older men. In the main hall the two centre tables were kept for tournament games and experienced players.
