Family-friendly Musselburgh snooker hall gets green light for empty B&M store

A family-friendly snooker hall and sports venue in Musselburgh has been welcomed by police and licensing bosses as a first for East Lothian.

Gennaro Cortellessa, who owns the Ball Room at Morningside and Meadowbank, in Edinburgh, has been granted a licence to operate their latest venue in the empty B&M store on the High Street.

A meeting of East Lothian Licensing Board heard how the Scottish-Italian family behind the Capital’s oldest-surviving snooker club alongside venues across the country wants to create spaces where people of all ages can come together. The application received no objections and 40 notices of support.

Gennaro Cortellessa, owner of The Ball Room, is transforming the former B&M store on Musselburgh’s high street into an indoor sports venue | Submitted

Mr Cortellessa told the Evening News: “It’s a breath of fresh air to finally get this result. Building work has been on pause for months now because I decided to stop any additional spend until I got the licence.

“The building warrant is now the final hurdle but hopefully the council can work together with us to get things moving because no one wants to see an empty building and we’re eager to start cracking on with it.”

He hopes to begin works just after Christmas with a view to open around March or April “if all things go well”.

The board’s Licensing Standards Officer (LSO) said she had visited the firm’s Meadowbank venue ahead of the hearing and been impressed with the way it operated.

The new Musselburgh venue will include bowling, darts, mini golf and sports coverage | Submitted

Agent for the applicants Alistair McDonald told the board: “Our clients are aware of the issues regarding youth behaviour in this area, but they feel that their offering would contribute towards a reduction in that, rather than an increase. They feel that this is somewhere that the youngsters will want to come and will not want to spoil it for themselves when it will be made very clear that they will be barred if they step out of line.”

Mr Cortellessa has agreed to work closely with police and licensing officers to share CCTV footage and report suspicious activity, including suspected drug dealing, both inside the venue and elsewhere on the High Street.

The LSO told the board: “I am really pleased there will be extensive CCTV and this will be accessible to police and the LSO. This is something that is new to East Lothian, there is potential and I hope it will be very successful.”

The new venue, which will also offer bowling and darts, indoor mini golf, sports coverage on televisions, and a full meals menu for families, also includes a separate servery for youngsters away from the bar where they can buy soft drinks and snacks.

The family have managed to combat concerns about antisocial behaviour outside the former B&M | Google Maps

Mr McDonald told the board that a number of customers who used their Meadowbank venue came from East Lothian and were keen to have something closer to home.

The family’s Meadowbank venue is also in the process of being renovated after Mr Cortellessa received confirmation that they could remain at their Jocks Lodge location.

He added: “I’m glad we will hopefully be serving the people of Musselburgh very soon and it doubles with the satisfaction that we are staying put in our Jocks Lodge venue.

“We’ve already started the process of renovating the inside and just this week added our private karaoke room, darts rooms and shuffle board to bring it up to par with our first of its kind Musselburgh venue.”

Councillors unanimously approved the licence for the new Ball Room and wished the operators well.

For more on the latest shops and businesses arriving in East Lothian sign up to our newsletter