UK Championship (Snooker): Dates, Tickets & Venue (York)

Nine days of baize in York

It opens on 28 November and ends on 6 December 2026. That is nine days of snooker at the York Barbican, one of only three events that make up the sport’s Triple Crown. The other two are the Masters in London and the World Championship at Sheffield’s Crucible.

The tournament began in 1977 as the UK Professional Championship. York has hosted it since 2011, so many fans know it as the York event. It draws big television audiences in China and across East Asia. Chinese players have lifted the trophy here before: Ding Junhui won it three times and Zhao Xintong took the 2021 title.

Inside the York Barbican

The Barbican is a purpose-built conference and concert venue from the early 1990s, not a sports arena. That makes it a fairly close space. Raked seating faces the playing area, so even the back rows look down onto the table, close enough to follow the cue ball’s line.

The room changes shape over the nine days, as at most ranking events:

• Early rounds: usually more than one table runs at once, with a partition between them.
• Later rounds: the room moves to a single table, with the whole crowd around one match.
• Final weekend: the semi-finals and the final are the sessions most fans want to see.

Tickets and sessions

Tickets are sold by session, not by day. A typical day has an afternoon session and an evening session, and you need a ticket for each one. World Snooker Tour runs the professional circuit and publishes the event schedule and ticket links on its official site. Prices are listed there too.

Many fans pick the early rounds for value. You see more matches, more players and more frames per ticket. The last weekend sells hardest because the crowd is there for one match. Day visitors often pair an afternoon session with an evening in the city centre.

Getting to Paragon Street

The Barbican sits on Paragon Street, just outside the medieval walls near Fishergate Postern. York station is on the East Coast Main Line. LNER trains from London King’s Cross take roughly two hours, and there are direct services from Edinburgh, Newcastle and Leeds.

From the station, most people walk. Go through the walls, past Clifford’s Tower, and the route takes about 20–25 minutes. Local buses and taxis are another option. York’s centre is compact and its streets are narrow, so most visitors without a car take the train. Drivers often use the city’s Park & Ride sites.

Quiet in the house: how a snooker crowd behaves

Snooker crowds stay very quiet, and newcomers notice it straight away. Silence while a player is down on a shot is the rule, not a suggestion. Referees do ask restless rows to settle.

• Moving around: people leave or return to their seats only between frames. Latecomers usually wait at the door until the frame ends.
• Phones: silent, with no flash photography during play.
• Applause: clap a fine pot, a long safety or a century break once the balls stop rolling. Never clap while a player is still lining up.
• Calling out: a shout of “Come on!” mid-frame will get you glares from the whole room.

Regulars usually take their seats a little before the session starts, so they are settled when the referee calls time.

York around the sessions

The Barbican is a short walk from several of York’s best-known sights, so gaps between sessions are easy to fill:

• Clifford’s Tower: the stone keep on its mound, almost next door.
• York Castle Museum: beside the tower, with its rebuilt Victorian street.
• The Shambles: the timber-framed medieval lane, about 15 minutes’ walk away.
• York Minster: a little further north, inside the walls.

The tournament falls in York’s Christmas season. The Christmas market usually runs on Parliament Street through late November and December, and many visitors build a weekend around snooker and the market together.