The Saltaire Bar was once again graced by a World Snooker Champion last Friday, as Shaun Murphy came to town.

The exhibition was organised by Gilstead snooker aficionado Keith Walker, with 2005 Crucible winner Murphy playing 10 frames against some of the best amateur talent in the district, while also entertaining fans with friendly banter and tales from the snooker world (some not fit for print in a family newspaper!).

Murphy’s visit to Shipley came off the back of John Higgins’ in March.

That night, the Scot hit a 147 against local player Lewis Walsh, but Walsh turned things around in spectacular fashion on Friday, producing a shock 72-9 victory, Murphy’s only defeat of the night.

Englishman Murphy's best performance came in frame six against Trevor Wood, where he racked up a century break.

The T&A caught up with Murphy to get his thoughts on the exhibition, and he told us: “Like any performer that works with live audiences, you go with a very small framework and tailor it on the night.

“You’ve got to read the crowd and the room. Some don’t want the stories and the jokes from the tour, they just want to see world-class professional snooker.

“Some just want to be entertained, like the old-school exhibition shows from Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis’ era, and some like a bit of a mix.

“I’m not doing it tonight, but I do a lot of shows with an Irish TV personality called Aonghus McInally, where we do snooker, magic and music in one night, trying to bring something new to the market.”

The crowd really bought into Murphy on Friday, and he said: “That rapport is everything.

“Without that, you’re just somebody hitting snooker balls around a table and not everyone in that room has come to watch you play.

“That being said, there are some diehard fans in the room, and this area has always been an absolute hotbed for snooker.

“Joe Johnson isn’t from too far away (the 1986 World Champion was born in Bradford and now lives in Queensbury), you step into Leeds and the Lines father and son are doing well on the snooker tour.

“My old coach when I won the world title, Steve Prest, worked in Leeds and Harrogate, and I mentor Stan Moody (a teenage talent from Halifax), who got his first professional win today.

“There’s a lot of expectation around him and hopefully when he’s a multiple world champion in years to come, we’ll look back on what he did today.

“It’s an area of the country I know well, which is deeply rooted in snooker, and it’s great to see some of those people here tonight.”

Murphy was impressed with his opposition too, Walsh in particular.

He said: “Lewis joked with me to go easy on him when I arrived, but I didn’t, he actually played well.

“They announced him with a top break of 130-something and you could see he could play.

“He was good for his win.”

Walsh and the other nine opponents of Murphy were grateful to be given the opportunity by Walker to play against one of the world’s leading players.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Shaun Murphy in action at the Crucible for the World Snooker Championships earlier this year.Shaun Murphy in action at the Crucible for the World Snooker Championships earlier this year. (Image: PA.)

And Harlow-born Murphy lauded the Gilstead veteran, saying: “I’ve heard good things about Keith’s exhibitions before, and he’s a face I recognise as he and his good lady (Sue) have supported the snooker tour and the World Championships for years.”

Snooker still has a raft of hardcore fans like Walker, and it is a topic Murphy speaks with great passion on.

Many feel the sport has fallen off badly since its supposed television heyday in the 1980s, when the likes of Davis, Taylor and Jimmy White became household names.

But the world number seven strongly disagrees, a point only reinforced by the numbers at the exhibition on Friday night, who had braved the terrible weather brought about by Storm Babet to attend.

‘The Magician’ said: “It’s one of those super frustrating things that snooker players deal with on a daily basis, when people come up to us and moan that there’s not as much of the sport on telly as there used to be.

“But that’s completely wrong and couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We have the three Triple Crown events on the BBC, the Home Nations is across Eurosport, we have four events on ITV4, you can basically watch every single game.

“There’s more snooker on TV and streaming available now and it’s not expensive. What you pay for your Netflix, you pay the same for all these snooker events, to watch world-class professional sport around the world.

“It’s incredible value and there’s more snooker to watch now than ever before.”

RESULTS FROM SHAUN MURPHY'S 10-FRAME EXHIBITION IN SHIPLEY (breaks of his over 50 included in brackets):

Frame 1 - Shaun Murphy 119 Mark Pratt 13 

Frame 2 - Shaun Murphy 111 (81) Craig Farrar 23

Frame 3 - Shaun Murphy 9 Lewis Walsh 72 (Walsh's highest break was 33)

Frame 4 - Shaun Murphy 103 (78) Dave Robson 28

Frame 5 - Shaun Murphy 88 (62) Stuart Harker 15

Frame 6 - Shaun Murphy 129 (102) Trevor Wood 13

Frame 7 - Shaun Murphy 105 (70) Mark Slater 0

Frame 8 - Shaun Murphy 70 Nail Idem 42

Frame 9 - Shaun Murphy 102 (64) Richard Hagerty 29

Frame 10 -Shaun Murphy 112 (73) Jamie Metcalfe 18