Category Archives: News

Been up to the north Lincolnshire – Notts border today just east of Doncaster .
Work involved the strip down of cushions and re-rubber and make the pockets the same size as a Star Table to WPBSA template openings as used on TV tournaments .
Using best Northern Rubber by Hainsworth .
Then a re-cloth in Strachan 6811 tournament cloth 30 oz .
The table was an old Hixon & sons with thick Welsh slate and a good solid frame .
With recessed into capping cushion cloth retaining slot to mimic steel cushions .
The table I think is circa turn of the century 1899 /1910 period .
There is some history to the table , as there are some paper labels to the cushions from the 1940s re-rubber , stating it belonged to a School in Leeds , called East Moor School in an area called Adel .
On looking up this school I find it was a Reform approved school for wayward Boys , which first opened its doors in 1857 . it was closed down around the 1970s I think .
This table went through a refurb by an unknown firm in 1985 having another re-rubber , but the pockets where all over the place in sizes .
My Client bought the table with the house so inherited it around 6 years ago .
My client who is a WPBSA coach wanted uniformity and as close to WPBSA size as possible .
Which I pulled this one off bang on , as you can see the templates fit snug to the angles .
It is a pity that the WPBSA do not allow Billiard fitters outside World Snooker , to have these templates , I had to rely on some very accurate copies of templates to do this work .
Something I think the WPBSA should look into , they do a lot of good work promoting snooker and the training of coach’s , but do not let the Billiard Fitters access to WPBSA templates , we have to rely on copies .
If there is no uniformity in the Tables , then younger generation are learning to play on Club pockets or Buckets as we call them .
We used to have the B&SCC templates , Billiards & control council , which are a little larger opening , and some like their tables to have that size , I just would like to offer both sizes and do it with proper templates , it looks more professional .
They could be made low priced on 3D Printers and then offered to proper time served Billiard fitting firms .

Superb condition and priced to sell .
complete with accessories shown in the photos below . including light and iron .

If there was ever a Rolls Royce of billiard table makers then George wright would be it .
a lot of people go on about Burroughs and watts tables being the best , but ask any Billiards fitter who has worked on George Wright tables and they are made to a higher degree of workmanship .
thicker wood for the frames for a start , they where the first firm to use concealed pocket plates around 1895. and most have huge turned and carved legs , Reeded legs or fluted where the most favoured leg design along with tulip , which most firms used , but George wright made their tulip legs with more carving segments as can be seen in this example .
other billiard companies spaced the tulip carvings wider so they where easier to produce and less work . Tulip leg = a tulip flower opening upside down ..can you see it in the photos ?

Below a brief history from the snooker heritage site , please read more info of George Wright on that site if you wish .
George Wright & Co. (founded 1868) was a prominent London-based manufacturer renowned for early innovations in convertible billiard-dining tables, often featuring special adjusting screws for height regulation. They were also known for producing high-quality rollover tables and for being among the first to hold Royal Warrants from King Edward VII. snookerheritage.co.uk 

Key Achievements and Specializations:

• Convertible Tables: They specialized in billiard dining tables and bagatelle tables early in their history, with advertisements for these in 1870.
• Rollover Tables: Along with George Edwards, George Wright was an early maker of “rollover” snooker tables between roughly 1890 and 1920.
• Royal Appointments: By the late 19th and early 20th century, George Wright tables were favored by royalty, specifically Edward VII (when Prince of Wales) and later King George V.
• Exhibition Success: They won multiple gold medals in the 1880s at international exhibitions in Australia .

George Wright was a major competitor to established makers like Thurston and Burroughs & Watts by the turn of the 20th century, especially favored after Queen Victoria’s passing in 1901 .

Please visit the Snooker Heritage site to see what Peter Ainsworth the author has written about George Wright the billiards firm

link here https://snookerheritage.co.uk/articles/geo-wright-co/

My selling client is now selling this very nice condition table , which has been renovated at some point in its life so should play very well , as you can see the table is from a very grand house and the sale is through my clients PA . who I am in correspondence with .
I have explained the costing to my selling clients that a buyer would have to pay on top of any price of the table to have it relocated , so we have agreed a selling price of just £1500 for this grand piece of Billiards furniture .
If any buyer would like a quote to have the table relocated from its ground floor room to another Ground floor room then GCL Billiards would be happy to quote , but the buyer is free to choose any billiards firm in the country .
please study thy following photos of the actual table .
An early table from its 13 gold medal ivory cushion badge , and circa I think around 1889 onwards ?
I will find out from Peter Ainsworth on that date as he is the Billiards Historian on plates and dating , I am going from the none top plate pocket plates which where not used after 1895 , but here we see an earlier 1889 table design with later 1895 concealed plates , what I think has happened is George wright has taken the cushions in and recapped the cushions for concealed plates or made a later set of cushions and reused the ivory badge .
this was not uncommon as designs change and people wanting the newer design of 1895 concealed pocket plates without having to change the table .
so on this table we date it by the Badge and not the pocket plates .
I did notice from the photos of the highly flamed mahogany capping’s to the cushions
seen in the first photo , they may have upgraded that too .
a very desirable George wright table with history . have you a nice room for this table , this would make a very nice statement to a larger household.

Yes, the SAM Balmoral pool table features a “ProActive” cushion system designed to emulate the performance of steel block cushions found on professional snooker tables.

These are £4499.00p on john parrot sports web site , my client says the cloth is a bit bobbly so it will require a re-cloth . although no rips are in the cloth . it was just the wrong choice of cloth when fitted .

Or if you are happy with it use it as is for a while as it is , if you wish just to buy it then save for a re-cloth at a later date .

My client is looking for just £1500 for the table A BARGAIN PRICE for one of these as it stands on site .
NOW REDUCED TO MAKE A REASONABLE OFFER !

I relocated this table for my client a couple of years ago from his fathers house .

And noted then it was in extremely good condition .

As an extra a re-cloth can cost anywhere between £350 and £450 depending on cloth grade and colour .

The price of the table is as it stands on site with its original cloth on it , the buyer is responsible to organise the dismantle and loading onto their van to take away .

This table is a free play table finished in Oak .

See photos for shade of oak finish cabinet and legs .

7ft

Exterior Dimensions – 214cm x 122cm

Slate Dimensions – 186cm x 94cm

Weight – 250kg

Even if you paid for a re-cloth the price would still be below £2000

and a whopping saving of around £2500 from new price .

Sam pool tables are built like a tank , where more lower cost UK tables are made from low cost materials , these SAM tables made in Spain are made from the best materials , and therefore cost over twice as much as say a supreme winner the market leader here in the UK , you may even see these SAM Balmoral tables for sale over £5000 , but John parrot was the lowest price I could find of £4499.00p

I have a few clients who swear by the quality of their Balmoral or Atlantic 7ft pool table .

The Balmoral in my opinion is made for the Home with its modern rounded look , while the Atlantic with its sharper angled lines and faceted diamond chrome embellishments is for industrial pool hall use .

The Atlantic looks more fun fair bling table

The Balmoral just sits right for in the Home .

If you would like a bespoke dismantle loading , traveling unloading and erect on site with a re-cloth of choice , then GCL Billiards will quote for this Ground floor to Ground floor only .

The table is located close to Loughborough / Leicester area . and is on a ground floor room .

I have the best Hainsworth cloths in stock even stock Ultimate pool in teal .

PLEASE NOTE , the cost of a re-cloth and removal delivery and set up is not included in the £1500 price of the table , for a quote for these extras please contact Geoff at GCL Billiards for a quote giving post code in full and NO STAIRS .

Been local very close to Belvoir Castle to renovate the Riley Snooker table of Mark , a returning client .
A table I moved from a neighboring village to him and owned then by a well known Sky TV sports reporter .
of which I moved the table for him also a few years back .
Well the cushions where a bit dead the last time I relocated the table , having had some inferior cushion rubber fitted to it around the early 1980s .

The best snooker / billiards rubber to fit to a table is Northern Rubber , used to be made in Retford Nottinghamshire , but now manufactured all in house out in Malaysia but still to the old Nottinghamshire N.R. based specification , and owned and run by Hainsworth a UK Leeds firm .
Photo above my gluing board , allows all 6 rubbers backing to be covered in glue in one go .
Rubber is sanded to give a key to the gluing surface , before glue is applied .

The cushions stripped and cleaned of old rubber and glue , rebate sanded to give a key to surface
and coated with glue .

Cloth of choice and asked for by this client was Strachan 6811 Tournament 30 oz weight .
all pure new wool .
I do give my Clients a choice of cloth and colour and grade and advise then to the play to expect
form the different brands and thickness and grades and cloth mix .
2 main cloth firms I use are Strachan and Hainsworth …both I am please to say UK manufacturers of the highest grades of Billiards cloth .

Mark standing , looking at the finished table , he was delighted in the cloth colour , and the workmanship
The table is located in a out building .

Looks very nice with the new nets and leathers .

Centre pockets flush to slate fall , some fitters do struggle to achieve this , but you will find that Time served fitters do work to this high quality .
We have seen some shocking work by so called fitters , based all around the UK , so be careful who you employ to dot he work for you , I was sent one photo only this week by a fitter and he found a shocking attempt to do a re-cloth and pull the cloth nice and neat down the fall .

As an example of what we may find on a table from previous fitters work .

To finish off , Mark was that pleased with the work he let me fit one of our GCL Billiards name plates on the Black ball end of the table .

We have a client based near Shrewsbury , who has a nice mahogany Birmingham billiards Classic Monarch 10ft snooker table for sale , complete with the table are Balls , Cues , wall rack , Brush , 4 shade light , and cover , and scoreboard . I think he mentioned billiard ball set too .
Current price for a Classic Monarch from Birmingham billiards is £7600 + Vat fitted .
My Client knows the table will cost a bit to have collected and delivered and set back up .
so the price reflects this at just £1250 …could have asked for more but this is what they will go for these days second hand .
As you can see the table is in good condition , If the buyer would like a price to collect the table deliver and set up , then Geoff at GCL Billiards will quote you for this .
not many 10fts for sale on the market at the moment , they all seem to be full size , so grab a Bargain .
if you have not got the space for a 12ft full size then the next best thing is this 10ft by 5ft Table .

NOW SOLD

We have a table for sale from a client , now this table has steel cushions on it , and it is a Riley Table , but it has one small slate chip underneath on one joint , I have been informed this does not go right through the thickness and the top is not damaged , but it may mean one bolt fastener may not be available to use , making 5 bolts on that cushion rather than 6 .
also the slate muntin’s ( Slate bearers ) are not adjustable , which I would recommend on r the next set up that they have adjustable brackets fitted , this makes for a much more stable table leveling .
So the asking price has been drastically dropped from £3000 to £1600 .
The steel cushions alone are worth the asking price .

here are a few photos , for someone not bothered about one bolt missing and that may not be the case yet , who ever is used to dismantle and set up can make that assessment at that time , it could be a BARGAIN BUY , LOOK UP WHAT A RILEY STEEL CUSHION ARISTOCRAT IS BRAND NEW TODAY ?
I could source another set of slates from another table but these are not owned by the seller .
Price is for the table as it stands on site with all accessories , it does not include any dismantle loading transporting and setting back up , or the extra work of fitting 6 adjustable muntin brackets .
or the repair or replacement exchange of slates if required .

Now look at this chip of slate , it could be that the fitters dropped it on the corner edge as they placed it on the frame , it could be from overtightening of a slate cushion bolt , this could be cemented back together and the slate repaired on this underside piece , and it will not effect the top playing surface if it has not travelled the full thickness of the almost 2 inch thick slate slab .
It could be an easy fix and all 6 bolts be ok , at worse it could be only 5 bolts on that side cushion , if you are fussy then the cost of a second hand set of Italian slates ardessio biggio type is required .
But seen much worse than this on a table , mainly due to rough handling of a fitters not fit to do the work.
You can only look at any slate defect once the cloth is off .
You cannot go from this photo
But look at the price , I have seen these tables go for £5000 on the second hand market and none less than £3500 , my client is honorable seller and because he spotted this , has decided to take a lower offer because of the slate chipped out like this .
In my opinion , nothing a bit of Car body filler will rectify , seen much far worse repaired than this .

There are some manufactured slate bed pool tables that require a bit more equipment to do and with BAD DESIGN can cause a lot of extra time wasted out of my day working on them .
And require an extra set of hands on the job too …… resulting in two fitters on site to do one table .

I am at the age that I do not wish to have the headache of putting extra time in on a BAD DESIGN table when I can re-cloth two good design ones in the same amount of time .
or even a full size snooker table in the same time .

Some imported tables especially , not only from China but mainland Europe and Eastern Europe , and sold as designer tables , at some crazy prices .
Some having weird Z frame design , some are made from inferior materials and nailed on leather pockets .
I am not going to single out these types of tables , but if you want good advice on buying a pool table that you will not have any problem getting them re-clothed or maintained and are sold at reasonable prices .
and parts are ready at hands if you require them .
Then please ask my Advice .

I have been in this industry of maintaining and repairing re-clothing , re-rubbering logistics of tables for over 50 years , I have worked on early 1960’s ring pocket Reni Pierre’s and Rutigliani pool tables through the 70 /80s Super leagues and their copies and later 90s designs , I have worked from these small tables through to full size snooker tables , Bar Billiards / Bagatelle table re-cloths …and served a full Billiards fitters Apprenticeship at Elston & Hopkin Billiards ltd and Mick Robb at Belvoir billiards of Nottingham .

I look at some designs and think …they are going backwards in designs….. and I feel , I have because of my experience the right to speak out about what I will take on or will not .
I am not having them forced onto me to do .
I am about to contact one distributer in Bristol area to stop referring me for these types of tables to re-cloth .
I never asked them to do that and do not need any of that type of work .

And it is because of this I have decided at my age to not bother taking them on .
I have a few in my local area that I will do , but I am not going to do any more for other people .
So please do not be offended when I say send a photo of your table and I refuse to do it .

BUT I WILL refer other fitters that do do them .

Below just a few designer tables that I do not wish to get involved fitting or working on , but there are others , some even more often asked for .

We have a pub client looking to start a pool team up , and need a supreme winner or Prince mechanical coin operated pool table , Price paid will depend on model and year of manufacture ( AGE ) , and if cushions are good or bad , and cloth is in good or bad condition .
We are looking for tables around the £500 to £1000 price range , and tables from 2004 onwards .
Some features will inform me the age of the table , but looking at late twin red stripe badge / Green badge and black badge tables .
Top hinges need to be in good order and no warped top or dished slates .
Client prefers Winner shape over the Prince .
Cloth condition is not a problem , but I need to know if cushion bounce is past its best .
The players are pretty fussy about playing on really bad tables in this league .