Category Archives: News

I am away for a week in Cornwall from the 10th of September , I am taking the Saab out for a long run , I bought this three years ago as a reaching the age of 65 present from my Wife , and have not had the time due to being so busy to use it often , it only has 16800 on the clock from new and its 13 years old this year , my daughter is manning the fort while we are away with her dogs , but will not be answering phone calls or emails while we are away .
I have work booked in right up to 17th of October

Those that are booked know who they are and those looking to book work in , on their snooker or pool tables , will have to wait until after October 17th .
I am still working full time until 2024 at this time I will be 70 Years old , but after March 2024 will go part time 3 days a week or one week on one week off .
I do not do upstairs work anymore when it comes to installing tables , so if you have a table that you require getting up or down stairs , please try some of the other time skilled fitters that are based around the UK , if you are not sure who to use , I will guide you .
Although if you get the table in the room We can still do the work of set up providing you have not placed the slates where the table is going to be sited .
A common occurrence to those not thinking that the poor fitter has to move them before he can erect the frame .
We only like moving slate once in a day .
we always ask people to store in order the slate 1.2.3.4.5 or reversed , upright like a door playing surface face out , against a wall
like this photo below .

If you are based in a City centre then unless you have parking outside unrestricted for a large transit sized van we cannot quote for work , we are finding it impossible to do some work when you have no parking outside for the entire Day .
and our van will not fit in a multi storey car park due to height if van .
I have turned some work down in Leicester Nottingham and Birmingham and Derby city centres because of this .
I also do not do London anymore , the fact it takes a long time to just get in and out means it is not feasible to take on .
Some just inside the M25 are still ok though .

Regardless of rumours circulating in the trade of billiards fitting , that I have retired or retiring , this is not true , I am still relocating full size snooker tables from ground floor to Ground floor , I am going to take it easy a bit after I am 70 years old that was always the plan , I am a young 70 years old though and played sports until I was 40 , I have looked after myself to a point , my father before me was the same , he never looked his age until he got over 80 .
It would take some illness to stop me working in the Billiards trade I have come to love .

Just £1000 , Bargain for this carved modern Italian slate based table , manufactured around late 1970s early 1980s , fine carved panels to each flat face of the frame , polish is in nice condition , it has been re-rubbered in the past , blue cloth is not fully worn out and can be refitted , it has a slight nick tear in the cloth which can be sewn up .
The table is dismantled and ready for collection , or you can get a price from GCL billiards to collect load deliver and assemble on a Ground floor only .
*** Please NOTE The price is for the table only no accessories , no cues no rests , are with the table apart from a set of S/H balls and the hooks for the rests that comes with it .
no set up or delivery it is £1000 collected .

However if you want a price for loading plus unloading delivery and set up on ground floor only …see Geoff for a quote , price will depend on distance so supply a full address and post code when asking for a quote .

We had an install upstairs , now I do not do upstairs or basements anymore due to my age ( 68 ) , and a back that has failed many times over the 46 years I have been fitting , so the client got the builders to do the lifting of the slate upstairs as he had specifically asked for me to fit the table due to my years in the trade and what he has read and heard about my fitting and ethics on workmanship , and therefore I assembled the frame and fitted the cloth and did the levelling work before the slates where placed on the frame .

NEVER put slates on an unlevelled table and then send for a fitter , as the frame will bend to the shape of the floor and you end up taking the slates off and reshooting the frame level again .

this way of fitting using the builders to lift the slate upstairs , my back lasts and I will be doing re-clothing for a few years yet , well into my 70s and maybe even into my 80s , we had an old fitter at the firm I used to work for , Elston & Hopkin Billiards ltd of Nottingham , that was doing fitting into his 80’s so it is not unheard of .

Don’t get me wrong I still take on table moves ground floor to ground floor and man handle slates but no stair work for me now .
so if you still require a full size snooker table move from ground floor to ground floor , I am still doing this .

The cloth of choice for this table was Hainsworth Precision on the bed and Hainsworth smart on the cushions , the reason for this is , extra fast cloth for the balls to roll on the bed , and thicker cushions to so they wear better , especially around pocket openings where ball is directed to and therefore wears out quicker , imagine what would happen if you put the thinner finer napped precision on the cushions , it would wear out very fast .
so most Time served Billiard fitters will recommend a thicker cloth on the cushions when using a match or precision cloth as the main bed cloth choice .

We are having some difficulty in getting hold of some grades of cloth especially when you order some preferential choice of colours .

this is not a fault of GCL Billiards but a back demand from the Covid period of the last two years and pressure on the manufacturers of the cloth to full fill orders already in on a back log ,
this results in cloth they have ins tock being rushed out as back orders , and a shortage of ready made kits cut to size to be dispatched on more recent ordering , lets take purple for instance , today I ordered a 8ft snooker set , and was told 26th of August they will have some ready , so I had to explain this to my client who understands and has accepted a date in September for his work to be done on his table .
Sometimes you may be wishing to have your table done ASAP , but if the cloth is not available from the manufacturers then we have to have an alternative colour or maybe be lucky and we have some on our own racking of stock as I do keep a supply of the most in demand cloth .
or wait for the lead time we are given which is only an estimate and cannot be set in stone that cloth will be dispatched on a given date .
this applies to all makes of cloth and grades .
This week I am expecting an order for grey 7ft pool Hainsworth match cloth that I ordered 6 weeks ago .
just like the building trade coming out of Covid has led to a shortage of goods , and we have also had some price increases too , so some may be shocked on quotes given say two or three months ago to suddenly find up to 15% price increase has been put on cloth and other overheads .

I have been away on Holiday and taken some time off for work on my Home which was required .
during most of May and part of June .
Sorry if you have been trying to contact me during this time but I never take my phone with me , as I need a full break away from work .
We are now back to normal trading and if you require any work on your snooker or pool table please get in touch .


Geoff has Over 45 years of experience of billiards fitting .
worked on most tables out there . from small pool tables to full size Snooker tables , from garden sheds to stately homes , from coal miners to celebrities of sport and entertainment , every one I have carried out work for gets treated the same in Manners and in Workmanship .
There are only a Hand full of time Apprentice served Billiards fitters out there in the UK , GCL billiards has the experience and workmanship you will be looking for .

I have bought a new phone and on swap over lost all my messages and what’s app messages too .
if you have sent a message over the last month while I have been away on Holiday and are awaiting reply please resend , if sending a photo of a table please add some message with it , what this photo inquiry is all about , I get hundreds of photos sent of tables with no messages ????
how am I supposed to know what I am looking at the pool or snooker table for ?
it could be for work on it or the table is for sale ?
for example 6 people phone about a table some may want a re-cloth and other work , others may want to sell it and place it on my web site, I say send me a photo of the table and I will answer any questions , all 6 send photos but no dialogue with them ? but no Questions or where the table is located , any stairs etc .



Regards

Geoff Large
GCL billiards