Category Archives: News

NOW ……..SOLD SOLD SOLD !
The table has now been reserved with a deposit direct to the seller .

In TV Tournament silver legs and frame embellishments … A , WPBSA COACH’S , personal table .

An rare opportunity due house move to purchase a much desired Riley Aristocrat with Steel Cushions , just like what the pro’s play on , this table will give you the same conditions as what Ronnie O’sullivan plays on .
The table is owned by a current WPBSA Snooker Coach , I have personally dismantled and set up three tables for this WPBSA Snooker Coach , each time upgrading from his first table a 9ft 3/4 size to a BCE full size standard cushion , then upgraded this Riley Aristocrat steel cushion table which is what he always wanted to aspire to .
These Riley Aristocrat Match tables are much better woodwork and build quality than the Chinese Star Table . ASK ANY BILLIARDS FITTER who has worked on both .
This table is for sale as a fitted table anywhere to ground floor with in 100 mile radius of Nottingham , if you are further away or have stairs then ask as we can get a quote for you .
I should think it is now due for a re-cloth and I am told it has mark on one of the cushion capping .
BUT …. The price includes all accessories shown including the lights.
A Brand new Riley Aristocrat today will cost you £11499 without steel cushions and £13249 with steel cushions ….so for £4750 delivered fitted and re-clothed bed and cushions in Hainsworth Match cloth .
And cushion capping’s stained and re-polished , that’s a saving of whopping…. £8499 from new price !

If anyone would like to make an offer for the table as it is without delivery and new cloth and cushion capping re-polished and stained , you are most welcome to do it that way if you have your own fitter and polisher .
This is the actual table in the photos with all accessories that is included with the Table as seen laid out in the photos .
plus the lights .

All inquiries to Geoff Large at GCL billiards .

Please contact me after June the 2nd , when I will be back in the office to answer emails and take orders .

***Although today as I post this , BT have sent us a Dongle to gain internet connection so it may work , which they should have done from day one as they disconnected copper lines , with no fibre even in the ground , and where their fault .

BT and Open Reach , still drag their heals in making a good connection for me
we are still operating mainly on my mobile phone 077534 66064
all though the land line phone has been working , it is a bit hit and miss .
Our internet is very low powered and some days impossible to even connect .
Please use mobile as contact until further notice .
If I do not answer it may be I am hands on , on a job , please leave a message and I will get back to you
Also I am away on Holiday from 17th May for two weeks , back in office on June 2nd .
Hopefully Open Reach and BT and the local planning office ( Council ) will have sorted our Fibre connection problems .
The road has to be dug up and we now find they have to gain Planning for that .
which has to take due course .

Not at my House .

Due to a right Cock up by Openreach , they put us onto a Fibre tariff yet have not connected fibre to us as promised fibre connection this last Monday the 31st of March .
They where supposed to dig a trench in our front lawn and connect us to Fibre Optics on that Day
and take out or disconnect the old slow coper wire connection .
they arranged this date and never showed up , we got around £30 compensation and £6 per day while it is not connected and for not showing up for their appointment , I took the day off waiting in for them to come .
I even laid a tough hollow protection pipe with pull through wire for connection for them under our new resin path from house to the lawn where they will be digging the trench , so they did not have to dig that resin path and blockwork up too , to make the whole job much easier for them .
I had the foresight to do this months ago when the new drive way and path was laid as I knew they would be coming round fitting fibre ….. I did the same for next doors who also had Resin driveway laid at the same time .

But , Then BT Openreach, disconnected our old cable connection at the main distribution exchange box on the corner of our estate about three streets away , as on their system we where supposed to be connected to Fibre .
so their instructed engineer cut the old copper wire system off TODAY .
The only way we can get connected back up to the old cable is to now cancel the fibre fitting , but if we do that it could be months before they come round again to connect fibre .
So for the time being we have no Land Line connection .
I expect this to go on for at least a week maybe more .

So any phone calls please use my Mobile on 07753466064
Please be patent for a reply as I may be working on a clients table , leave a text message or voice mail if I do not answer .

Local job for me today just 4 hours to strip and clean slates , re-cloth cushions and bed in Strachan 6811 tournament cloth 30 oz weight , plus change one middle net . plus check and adjust levels .
Nice easy local day for me .

This week I had the pleasure of working on this very nice large bulbous fluted leg Burroughs & Watts Billiard / snooker Table circa around 1910 .
My client was having problems with the rubber not bouncy enough , and the pockets where not all the same size .
I stripped the table down to find the last re-rubber by Burroughs and Watts was in 1954 , my client had purchased the table from another firm who had claimed to have completely refurbished the table , this was not the case as the photo of the rubber proved having 54 code year on it .
the other firm had made fantastic job of the re-polish though as the photos show , so full credit to them on that part of the refurb work .

Photo above of the actual rubber I took off the table , showing the 54 date code , most rubber made had a date code on them a practice still used on Northern rubber , which now has a boxed moulded in date code where the year is present then 12 boxes with dots in it showing the expired months , so if a rubber had 24 on it and then 5 boxes with a dot in them , the date of manufacture would be 2024 and the month of May . as can be seen below in this advert by Hainsworth who own the rights to Northern Rubber now .

The above date code on this advert example is 2018 and 7 dots in box section = July .
you can see the next year is 2019 an boxes have dots in them , each dimple dot is drilled into the casting as each month ends forming a moulded raised dot , a simple method .
The old method of dating rubber was just a stamp on top of the rubber which is easy to sand off , so that is why they switched to the moulded box dot method of dating rubber .

Above old method of dating rubber was a stamped on painted print , easy to remove .
so that is why they switched to imprinting in moulding, of box month dating and year .

If you see this has been removed you know someone is trying to hide the year it was last done
also look for the yellow dot in Northern Rubber , this to stop the Chinese copying it .
The yellow dot insert is your guarantee it is Genuine Northern Rubber as used on Professional TV Tour tables , by World snooker .

Here are the finished photos of my clients table , as you can see my Client has a very nice bottom of the garden games Room , the table has heated slates , and I have changed the rubber to Northern Rubber , cloth used was Hainsworth Match cloth on the bed , and Hainsworth thicker smart cloth on the cushions , as these take a lot of wear , more so than the bed cloth .
The ball rails where also changed for more modern chromed type with 4 rail bars in them and the two spot end rails where extra long to collect more red balls at that end .
I would also like to point out that the cushions mahogany is extremely heavy , these would play the same as steel block cushions , they where made from Cuban Mahogany , a very hard and heavy wood just like lignum vitae as used on crown bowl balls , and it is extremely rare to find these on a table , and as a Billiards fitter of 48 years now , I can only say I have only come across a dozen tables on my rounds in the past , out of thousands of tables I have worked on to have these fitted .
So if you are lucky enough to have one of these sets of cushions on your table , you are very lucky .
In 1910 a table like this would have been the same price of a terraced or semi detached house , so this table would have been in a very rich household , and from the labels on it from the previous firm that moved it , from the Bath area of UK when it was first installed .

May be a George Wright manufacture . as he used this leg design often of reeded bulbous legs .
The table has very large circumference legs , which are carved reeded type as used by George wright .
there are scrolls at each side of each leg , and you also have scrolls and a Scallop shell carved design in the frame work too .
Ignore the Arthur Perry & Son plaque this is a later re-rubber plaque put on by Perry when they carried out a refurb of cushion rubber ,and it is advertising A Reliance cushion rubber .
A very nice looking table with buttons on the cushions rather than a slide in panel .
I would say circa 1920s
My client is looking for £750 for the table with accessories as shown .
The price is for the table as is on site , and any removal costs will be the buyers responsibility .
I am sure the table requires a re-cloth , looking at the photos too .
But is priced correct at just £750 .as any buyer will need to factor in removal costs and a re-cloth .
this table done up by a billiards firm would be in excess of £5k to £6.5k .


All inquiries to Geoff or Carol at GCL billiards .