The first championships were held for men in 1974, with the women's tournament added the following year. Initially held in December of each year, the championships were moved to January/February in 1991. Many leading male players boycotted the 1993 tournament in protest over a range of issues, including the amount of prize money on offer and the
Squash Rackets Association's selection criteria for the England team. In 2004,
Cassie Campion (during her final competitive year) surpassed
Sue Cogswell's record by winning her sixth title. This remains as the women's record today. The men's Over 70 event was added in 2005 and the men's Over 75 event was added in 2011. The 2012 men's final was contested between the reigning
World Champion and World No.1,
Nick Matthew, and the reigning World No.2,
James Willstrop. Matthew won 3–1 to claim his fourth British National title and equal the record set by
Phil Kenyon. During the year that Matthew retired (2018) he extended the record to ten titles.
Venues The championships were held at the
National Squash Centre at Sportscity in
Manchester from 2003 to 2018. The women's tournament began in 1975 and was initially hosted at
Edgbaston Priory Club in
Birmingham, before moving on to
Dallington, Northamptonshire (1976–77), Carriages in
Hellingly,
East Sussex (1978),
Chichester,
West Sussex (1979) and
Wembley Squash Centre (1980–82). From 1983 the women's and men's championships were held in the same location. == Past results ==