STEPHEN LEWIS looks ahead to a festival of snooker at York Barbican Centre

BY THE time Hazel Irvine takes to the air on December 8 to introduce live TV coverage of the later rounds of the UK Snooker Championships from the Barbican Centre, York, the city's principal concert and sports venue will hardly be recognisable.

Gone will be the trampolines, table tennis tables and badminton nets that occupy the main auditorium on weekday nights when there is no concert. Instead, the Barbican will resemble Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, home of the biggest snooker tournament of them all: the Embassy World Championships.

It will be a carpeted, hushed arena, banked with seats, with the attention of the world focused on the four green baize tables at the centre.

The theatrics of last week, which saw Pulp and Status Quo taking to the stage on successive nights, will be a distant memory. Instead, the dressing room will be occupied by the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Peter Ebdon, the world's top-ranking snooker players, all of whom will be in York to take a tilt at this year's UK title.

Make no mistake, this event is big - the biggest sporting event ever to take place at the Barbican, according to the venue's UK Snooker Championship co-ordinator, Leon Shouksmith.

Between next Monday, when first round matches begin, and December 16, when the final takes place, up to 20,000 people are expected to squeeze through the Barbican's doors to enjoy 13 days of almost non-stop, top quality snooker. The only day you'll have a chance to draw breath will be Friday December 7 when, first-round matches out of the way, the TV cameras will be brought in ready to televise the live stages of the event starting next day.

To accommodate this cue-fest, the Barbican is to be transformed. From Thursday, it will be closed for all other sporting activities save swimming and gym (regular clubs will be accommodated in nearby venues). Work began almost before the echoes of Sunday night's community carol concert had died away.

Already, the main auditorium has been stripped of its stage by technical staff. Today, the BBC moves in to begin readying lighting and cameras, and later in the week a crew of up to 50 technical staff from World Sport Group, which is staging the championships on behalf of the World Snooker, will begin 'dressing' the Barbican. They will bring in carpets, snooker tables and even their own seating to turn the Barbican auditorium into a 'theatre in the round'.

Virtually the whole of the Barbican Centre will be taken over by snooker. There will be four tables in the main auditorium for early matches, dwindling to two for later rounds and just one for the semis and finals. The 'small hall' will be turned into a players' practice area, with three tables, and players' lounge. Studios one and two will become a media centre for the world's gathered press corps, with studios three and four turned into a TV studio.

The first floor outdoor balcony will be taken over by a giant marquee which will house the Cue Zone. It is here that Harrogate professional Steve Prest will offer free snooker coaching to ticket holders, and there will also be a chance to play interactive computer games.

There will be dressing rooms for the BBC commentary team of Hazel Irvine, Steve Davis and John Parrott (who will be supported by Clive Everton, Willie Thorne, Dennis Taylor and Ray Edmonds) and three dressing rooms for the players.

With just five more days to get everything in place, Leon Shouksmith and Marc Wigley, Barbican lighting and sound technician, admit they face a tough challenge. But for once, the Barbican's dual-purpose role as sports and concert venue will be a help. It could almost have been tailor-made for this type of event.

If the Barbican wants to keep the UK Championships next year, it has to prove itself as a venue, Marc Wigley says - and it will do just that.

He and his staff are used to turning things round overnight, from a Mel C concert one night to a four-day annual general meeting the next. Compared to that, preparing for the UK Snooker Championships should be a doddle.

"Usually we have a seven hour fit-up time," he says. "Here we've got seven days." The real rush will come once the championships are over. The Barbican crews then have little over 24 hours to transform the venue once more. Out will go Ronnie O'Sullivan and his snooker-playing rivals - and in will come Jools Holland, for a two-night show on December 18 and 19. Normal service will be resumed, in other words.

Tickets update: The final and semi-finals are already sold out; tickets remain for earlier rounds. Call Barbican box office on (01904) 656688

When's a rest not a break? When you're a professional snooker player. Here, to help you chart your way through the maze that is professional snooker, is our guide to the sport's finer points.

Rest - not a pint and a quick fag, but a long stick with a metal cross on the end, used to support the cue when playing tricky shots.

Cue - another long stick with a chalk-covered tip used to hit balls into pockets.

Pockets - no, not those pockets, idiot. Little net bags suspended beneath holes around the edge of the snooker table that you have to hit balls into.

Aim of the game - to pocket the most balls and so score the most points. The balls come in different colours - and the colour of the ball decides how many points you get.

The white ball (or cue ball) - never hit this into a pocket. It's the one you hit with your cue (see above), aiming it at one of the other balls so they, but not the cue ball, go into a pocket.

Red ball - if you sink this (hit it into a pocket) score one point. Sinking it also entitles you to have a go at one of the coloured balls (no, red balls aren't coloured balls)

Yellow ball - if you sink it, score two points.

Green ball - three points

Brown ball -four points

Blue ball - five points

Pink ball - six points

Black ball - seven points

Fail to sink a ball, and you lose your turn. Once all the balls have been sunk, the player with the most points wins the frame (the individual game). To win a match, you have to win more frames than your opponent.

Simple, really. If you're still as puzzled as I am, why not check out the World Snooker website at www.worldsnooker.com - where all will be revealed.

Updated: 10:18 Tuesday, November 27, 2001