The Mercure hotel bar is a popular drinking haunt with the snooker crowd, despite some challenging bar prices. Just a stone’s throw away from the Crucible it is one of the meeting place of choice for a late-night drink, a more upmarket option than the equally frequented Graduate pub around the corner, and in recent years the venue for the after-final party.
The A-list actually stay there, the riff-raff pretend they are before toddling off at 2am back to the Travelodge or the Ibis.
But with the accommodation being some of the finest in the surrounding region, there were other non-snooker guests in the second week of the World Championship who probably would have thought little of forking out £5 for a pint.
Reading, chasing a play-off place in the Championship, stayed there ahead of their penultimate regular-season game at nearby Doncaster while big-spending QPR, already with a play-off spot secured, and boss Harry Redknapp took up temporary residence on semi-final Friday ahead of their last match of the campaign at Barnsley.