A BID might be made to bring the World Snooker Championship to York's new Barbican Centre.

This possibility has emerged because snooker's governing body is putting the event up for grabs, with Sheffield's Crucible Theatre not certain to keep the tournament they have hosted for 27 years.

"I am very interested," Tony Knox, managing director of Absolute Leisure, who are taking over ownership of the Barbican Centre, responded to news of the chance of the World Championship venue being open to tender.

"I would seriously consider approaching World Snooker to find out more details and look into the possibility of applying to make a bid."

York has been the home of the UK Championship, second only to the World Championship in the snooker schedule, for four years. This year's UK event came to a climax last Sunday when young Scot Stephen Maguire took the trophy.

The Barbican Centre is now closed for public use, with major refurbishments planned by Absolute Leisure, who are hoping to have the venue up and running again in time to keep the UK snooker at the venue all being well.

The sponsorship of the tobacco company for the world tournament ends next year and the World Professional Snooker and Billiards Association have opened the event for tenders to stage it in 2006.

Six cities have so far said they are definitely interested in bidding. They are believed to be Sheffield, Preston, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle/Gateshead.

The closing date for tendering is December 17 and the winning city is due to be announced next April.

All the top players reckon York is a great place for snooker. They like the Barbican Centre's facilities, the knowledgeable crowds, friendly atmosphere and love the city.

Stephen Hendry, the seven-times former world champion, is among a number of snooker stars who support the idea of staging the World Championship at different venues on a rota basis, like the Open golf. If that were to happen York might have a higher chance of getting on a World Championship circuit.

One factor in the snooker authorities' thinking of possibly moving the World Championship away from Sheffield as a permanent home is that the Crucible holds fewer than a thousand spectators and bigger venues would reap the sport extra much-needed income.

But this need not automatically rule out York. Although the Barbican Centre at present has smaller capacity than Sheffield it is of similar size to the Guildhall at Preston, one of the cities keen to stage snooker's biggest event.

Pickering snooker professional Paul Davison suffered a 5-4 defeat to world number 72 Alfie Burnett, of Harrow, yesterday at Prestatyn in the first qualifying round for the Malta Cup.

Updated: 10:39 Wednesday, December 01, 2004