The Mercure hotel was as ever at this year’s Betfred World Championship the place where many of the players, managers, sponsors and media stayed - and the bar a favourite watering hole for plenty more besides, with the snooker family congregating in the evenings to talk over the day’s events and catch up with old friends.
But it wasn’t just the snooker crowd staying there this year, with FA Cup semi-finalists Reading, who only lost to Arsenal at Wembley to a terrible blunder from keeper Adam Federici, rolling up on the second Monday. The Royals were in the area to play Rotherham on the Tuesday night in a game crucial to the Championship survival hopes of the Yorkshire club.