Category Archives: News

I have been over to Willingham-by-stow near Gainsborough Lincolnshire to re-cover a supreme winner 7×4 pool table
the owner also has a full size snooker tbale that I re-covered around 2 years ago .
The room is a DIY built shed at the bottom of the Garden in what must be one of the largest ones I have worked in.

both tables in one of the largest Man caves I have worked in .

the room has a large Log Burning fire and it’s own Toilet room a kitchen area and a large screen TV.
the owner has built most of this shed out of reclaimed throw away materials as he works for a large Builder and rips Buildings apart he has access to re-use the throw away materials .

the slate bed is re-covered in Strachan Tournament 6811 all new wool and slightly lighter 29 oz cloth weight .
The cushions where re-covered in the heavier 30 oz Strachan tournament 6811 all wool cloth .

the table is around 2008 and is in excellent order , I did clean the insides out and washed the ball runs down .
My Client plays to a decent county level at World Rules Pool for Lincoln .

We have been over to Burton on Trent where we where instructed to replace the cushions and the fixings of the cushions
to more modern Allen key fitting upgrade for a super league table

Old poor designed four prong cushion fitting screw cam .

Brand new cushions which had full size snooker rubber fitted to them and the new Allen Key type fitting to fasten them on nice and tight .

cushions covered and fitted with Allen key bolts , and slate covered in nice new Burgundy 777 Strachan cloth

Finished table all it requires now is a new dust cover

Nice new fitted Peradon UK made dust cover to keep the sun from fading the cloth

I am about fed up with so called web designers contacting me by email and saying they can improve my web site and my business and my turnover .
I get around 50 a month saying they have this and that experience to redesign my web site .
I am very content with my web site and the business turnover and the fact that I am always busy proves this .
I get good feedback from my web site , and if you study the content it is more advisory than hard sell .
informing future clients how busy we are and how we go about our profession as a Qualified Billiards fitter
also showing the downfalls of cowboy work and how we rectify it .

I let my customers feedback guide me , I get good response from work that I have completed or even if it’s a bit of free information or guidance on tables .
We do not buy or sell snooker tables the market has been poor for years and it is a buyer’s market , so no profit to made from selling snooker tables unless you have something special or famous owner owned .
We like to stick to what we are good at and that’s fitting & maintaining snooker and pool tables

My web site gives good information , there are many stories about tables we have worked on
we do not try and be something we are not .
we do not pay £2000 for a nice designed e-commerce type web site , we go for a more direct personal approach that is easy to understand .
all our second hand snooker tables advertised on our web site  are privately owned and still at owners home address , you can deal direct with the seller unless the seller would like anonymity then we deal with the table sale on your behalf  and you save middle man fees this way , as we said we are not interested in collecting large stocks of snooker tables and paying warehouse storage only to sell one or two a year .
I have seen this done many times with other firms and it is a loss making enterprise to stock so many second hand tables when the demand is so low .
so we leave stock piling snooker tables to other firms that specialize  in buying and selling snooker / billiard tables .

a typical table for sale on our web site direct from the seller .
you just decide which table you are interested in we let you contact the seller , then you can arrange for professional dismantle and delivery and set up from GCL billiards
it is a proven system that works for us .

a table move for a local council sports center

So having explained the situation on our current web site and how it performs there is no need to upgrade or alter it
as the saying goes if it’s not broken don’t fix it .
I know web site designers have to earn a living , but to bombard my emails with such requests is not doing themsleves any favors
I have a good friend who put together my web site and it works very well for me and my Business .
if I need to tweak it , then he would be my first point of call , not some web site design enquirer from half way around the world .
I do not even open them ,  I just put them in spam folder and delete .

I have just completed two re-covers on winner supreme pool tables for local establishments in and around Derby
My morning stop off local to me at sawley derbyshire , a pub with an upstairs pool / poker room .

the cloth was ready for a re-cover on this table

Every staple is taken out , unlike some hit and run firms who just pull the old cloth off and  leave all the old staples in and cover over them
a case of what the eye cannot see , We at GCL Billiards take every staple out .

Cushions re-covered in Strachan 6811 pool cloth .

the Strachan brand pronounced Strawn , and the 6811 grading is our most asked for cloth and used throughout the industry for pool tables in pubs and clubs that league pool teams play on , a 100% pure new wool cloth , and at 28 oz it is pretty fast .
some may ask for an upgrade to the full 30 oz Strachan tournament as used on full size snooker tables , but this is 30 oz grade more expensive , and at the end of the day they are both made from the same 100% pure new wool .

slate covered and cushions refitted cabinet and rails cleaned out , almost finished , just got to attend to the leveling which is a problem on this table because the feet have been stripped of their threads and will not screw up or down , a common fault when a ball sticks the players lift the table up and bang it down to free the ball , this ball sticking is caused by muck on the rails , that is why GCL Billiards clean the inside of the tbale when re-covering we do a full service not half of one .

I’m afraid I had to place a few beer matts under the feet to level this table , there is a repair kit available sometimes on ebay where you drill out the hole larger , fasten a new plate to the bottom of the leg and screw the feet back on , or you can get a welder to make some plates that can be bolted onto the bottom of the legs and have a nut welded on so the legs can be screwed back on ,or simply buy new legs .

table is now finished , 2 springs were also put back onto the EDR coin mech and side flip out tray cleaned .
My second table in Derby was at a social club on the outskirts of the City .

striped cushions of all staples , again I always point this out to my clients as many other firms in the area just do a hit and run job and leave all old staples in the cushions

it has been a year since my last re-cover at this social club and cloth shed dust is always going to happen in and around the pocket falls
I vacuum out the dust and wash down the rails .

Now cleaned out , balls will not stick on the rails or flip out tray located in the side of the table .

table is finished re-covered in strachan 6811 and has been leveled
on these type of Supreme tables , you get a different sound when a ball bounces on the hinge side of the table
the bounce is not affected , but players moan that something is wrong when they hear this sound , this sound is the hinge rattle , by placing a bit of card between the hinge you can soften this sound noise down , but there will always be a sound difference from the clamp down side to the hinge side on any table that has hinges , but especially on supreme tables .
they are clamped down on coin mech side and ends , but are hinged on the far side by a split hinge , this so that the top can be removed easy to maintain and re-cover , but this split hinge rattles more than normal fixed hinges , and that is why so many pool players moan about the noise . this is a design fault if they used clamps all the way around there would be no moaning , but hinged lids are part of this tables design . and it is the most popular table sold in the UK .

We get plenty of referrals from people recommending GCL billiards
one such person who recommends us is Jules Goodyear of Newark cue club
so it was no surprise when Jezza a regular player at Newark phoned me up to book his own table in for a re-cover in Strachan 6811 Tournament 30 oz cloth
Now I have worked in jezza’s cabin before but not for Jezza as he had bought the entire Cabin and table from another Newark pool player  Dan Heath .
but this Supreme winner 7ft  table was bought by Dan just before he sold the cabin due to a house move, I had not actually seen this table before .

so arrived and cushions off and the strip down begins , I had not worked on this particular table in the past so gave a few hints to improving the table

cushion stripped down , every staple taken out , although the cushions has supple rubber it was the old red rubber that Supreme used to use
this has a habit of going rock hard , it may start with just one cushion or part of one cushion , but this red rubber gives no warning and it could solidify next week or next year it happens that quick when it decides to harden .

here is a photo showing the red rubber from another table ,as you can see I can hold it out like a stiff stick
the black rubber is new and just bends , so going forward try and make these cushions last a year then on next re-cover have brand new black rubber cushions fitted .

after stripping the cushions down I attend to the slate bed prepare the surface and get off any old glue on the playing surface area
glue to outer edge of slate and 1/2 inch on top which is under cushions to give more contact Glue down area .
then glue to underside of new cloth outer edges and pocket area’s.
the old cloth is laid over to protect the nex cloth at this glueing stage .

the finished table re-covered in Strachan 6811 tournament cloth 30 oz grade .

as can be seen we use genuine Strachan 6811 tournament cloth for what call our top clients choice .
this cloth to play well has to have a well kept brushing and ironing regime every 10 hours of use .
some club’s go for much thinner finer cloths and do not brush and iron as much as you need to when you have this slightly thicker cloth on
the reason I recommend this grade and make of cloth is because it will last and it will wear well , it is not by accident that Strachan is used by the governing body of snooker on the majority of their tournaments .
fitting thinner faster cloths , maybe good from the first cueing of a ball , but I can guarantee they will not last as long as this cloth
If you ,maintain Strachan 6811 and brush and iron every 10 hours of use as recommended by the manufacturer then this cloth gets fast as it wears in .
you cannot have thin cloths and durability , but if asked I will re-cover in Hainsworth Precision or match but this cloth is more costly and the benefits are not any better than useing 6811 tournament in my opinion , and also the players of Newark Cue clubs opinion after many years of useing this grade of cloth they would not use any other .

Jezza’s table finished re-covered and ironed and level ready for use .
the only other improvement I would recommend is to replace the older smooth ball runners inside for slotted type as bounce back onto table can occur with smooth runners .

older smooth ball runs tend to have bounce back up of ball dropping onto this flexible shiny surface , these will normally crack with age

a more modern ball run , the slot is extended right up to there the ball falls in , and you can see the allen key screw head where it fixes onto table .
these are the type we recommend to have fitted as an upgrade, balls tend to stay down on these ball rail runners .

It is no secret that most billiard fitters do not like working on small tables that are fiddly to work on , but we do have to offer this service .
these can take much longer to re-cover than a full size snooker table , and many owners of small 6 foot tables are shocked at the labour charge for these size of tables
but I am afraid we charge the same labour rate on small tables as we do full size tables when re-covering as it take just as long and maybe even longer to complete .
Only the cloth is lower priced due to less of it it to supply .
I received a phone call the other week to give an estimate to the cost of re-covering a 6ft snooker table local to me at Derby
I asked for a photo of the table to give an accurate quote and to make sure it was a 6ft table .
once I had looked at the table I noticed it was a very well made one .

when I arrived it had a very large slash type cuts in the bed cloth , apparently a student staying at the house decide to do some craft work and used a stanley knife to cut card on the table unaware it was  damaging the cloth underneath .
I noticed a Badge on one end saying Elston & Hopkin Ltd Goldsmith Street , this was the firm I used to work for until it was sold in 2004 by John hopkin who is still alive and in his 90s .
I immediately recognized it was a John Gent licensed victuallers table, and I  have a photo of Burnaby hall which was a Billiard rooms in Hyson Green and John Gent tables were installed in there in the late 1890s / early 1900s .
here is that photo , click on the photo to enlarge for more detail .

They are all full size Billiard tables apart from one small table in the center of the room which is an identical model of the table I am working on at Derby
it could even be the same table , I know this 6ft  table ended up in a pub in Bulwell market place and then sold on from there in the late 1980s .
John Gent was a billiard table manufacturer based in Nottingham in the 1880s onwards and had offices and billiard rooms on Broad Street , and the factory was based on Convent Street which is behind the old Palais de dance on lower Parliament Street .
John Gent passed away in the late 1920s and the firm passed over to John Elston who renamed it Elstons of Broad Street and dropped the manufacture of tables and decided to concentrate on the Billiard rooms and sales of accessories .
In 1938 Gent joined forces with another billiard hall family of Hopkin , and decided to trade from an head office Billiard rooms on Goldsmith Street , the firm was renamed Elston & Hopkin , and they had between them around 13 billiard halls and rooms .
In 1980 the premises on Goldsmith Street was demolished to make way for the new Royal concert hall and we relocated to Newark Street for office and billiard room and the workshop on Canal Street was also incorporated into Newark Street .
and by 1970s Elston and Hopkin which was by now run by John hopkin ( my old boss ) the Grandson of the original Stuart Hopkin who actually owned Burnaby billiard rooms , by the 1960’s the Elston Family  had ceased having an interest in the firm
in 1980 ,  I joined the firm from my Uncles Billiard & Snooker -Pool firm Trent valley Leisure.
I stayed until 2004 and then moved on with the new owners who just bought the name , until 2012 when I branched out on myself to form GCL Billiards , I am the last Billiards fitter trading in nottingham to have direct links with the original Elston & hopkin .
there are two others fitters who were trained at elston & hopkin ltd , one is now retired and the other is based in Nottingham and still does a bit of work locally but has other business interests and unlike myself who is totally involved with the maintenance of Billiard snooker and pool tables .
I Visit John Hopkin every Christmas , and often remind him of tables such as these when i get the opportunity to work on them again .

the table  re-covered in Strachan 6811 tournament cloth with new bag nets .
These tables are made correctly , they have cushions that are the same build quality as a full size
it also has bolts in the cushions , not low quality wood screws , the corner plates are called billiard finger top plates and have a thin strip of leather on the inside .
unlike the full leather that is on some tables , this shows this table is a very early table , made around 1890 circa .
If you look at the side frame and legs , imagine this on the end of a full size table .
those legs are full size legs , the table is made very sturdy , unlike some 6ft tables you can buy today online or at high street stores that I describe as throw away tables , this table will last for years and years .

We have just completed a re-cover in special order Hainsworth smart Golden Yellow Pool cloth .
the table was a project work in progress for an Art Student for her studies , and was completely funded by her .
The King William IV pub is a well known real ale pub located around the Sneinton and Lower Parliament Street area close to the Nottingham Ice Arena
on Manvers Street and Eyre Street corner .
My instruction from Carys was to re-cover the pool table in a bespoke colour of gold and the nearest we could get was Hainsworth Smart Golden yellow .
This just happens to be the same colour as Nottingham Panthers Ice hockey shirts . who are located just around the corner at the NIC .

the pool table was a Valley pool type I think manufactured in Wales ? and of 1980s circa .
above you can see the badly faded green cloth which has a mountain of chalk dust under and one pocket opening,  and had a ridge of dust preventing a slow ball from falling in
I  Do not think this table had been recovered for years there was also a hole in the black spot area .

With the cushions off and fully stripped of cloth and staples , I cleaned the slate and made good ready for glue to be spread to slate and under part of cloth edge .
the old glue was in places interfering with a ball running into pockets and also down the side of the cushions so I scraped all old glue away fro any area of play .
nothing worse than a slow ball down the cushions rolling off a blob of old glue left on the slate from a previous re-cover .

with this bright light coloured cloth it was important not to get dirty hands on it while re-covering so I kept my hands clean at all times .
Above the bed cloth fitted . Have you got your sunglasses on ?

the finished table , marked out with baulk and D , a new set of balls was also bought by Clarys and a pool tournament is booked for first play tonight .

I also gave the internal ball rails centre ball run and also side door ball flip out tray a thorough clean out and wipe down
with a bright cloth like this the muck if left on the rails would soon destroy the good work of this re-cover .
yellow chalk has been ordered and they are useing a yellowish beige one until this arrives
Some  people do not think about same coloured chalk with a cloth as bright as this it is important that you do not use the more common blue and green chalk .
I also found it annoying that Hainsworth will sell you a bizarre colored cloth yet will not supply an appropriate colour chalk to go with it .

blue and red balls with golden 8 ball .
Ordering one off colours like this Golden Hainsworth smart cloth can be around £20 to £40 above our normal price in green depending on which grade you are comparing it with .
Hainsworth cloth is expensive to order as one off cloths the postage alone is £18+ vat on top of the price of the cloth , so please take note of this if you want to order special colours .
We can also supply and fit other designer cloths such as this

and this

or just plain one off colours

We also do american speed cloths which has no nap .

a friend of mine also had one done in Chips printed onto the cloth for a Fish and chip Restaurant

We went over to Derby to re-stretch a bed cloth on a full size Riley Aristocrat table
we have not re-covered it in the past as another sheffield firm had supplied and fitted the table ,
our job for the day was to improve the speed of the table by re-stretching of bed cloth
and to test the cushion bounce with ball ramp
and also replace the very badly fitted long chinese low cost nets with good UK manufactured nets supplied by Peredon
the nets were too long affecting the ball run on each rail and balls falling on the floor or getting stuck in the nets .

one of the first things we found on the re-stretch was that the firm who supplied the table had used Substandard cloth
Substandard is a term that the manufacturer uses to identify seconds or faults within a roll of cloth
they iron on a transfer every 10foot so that anyone using this cloth there will be at least one of these transfers on each bed cloth .
also claims against Strachan cannot be made on substandard cloth you are buying seconds so you have no Warranty by Strachan on the cloth
GCL billiards will not use Seconds or substandard cloth .
I was allowed to see an invoice for what the other firm had charged for the re-cover and it was £375 + vat = £450 and that was last year when I was charging  £397 and no vat to pay so perfect cloth from GCL billiards  was actually £53 lower priced if you cannot claim vat back as was the case with this client , do not forget the other firm was using sub standard cloth which can be around £60 for  bed and cushions cheaper to buy so he was actually making much more profit that way than using what we use perfect Strachan 6811 tournament cloth .
I wish to point out there is nothing wrong in using substandard cloth as along as the paying customer is informed , in this case they were not aware it was substandard cloth that they had used .
substandard can mean uneven playing surface , stop start lines , flecks in cloth or too loose or slack weave , and wrong nap length used .
i would say the previous firm made over £100 more profit than me using this substandard cloth so be aware and check what you are being quoted and inspect the cloth being fitted for substandard stamp running through the 6811 transfer .
actually be there when they put the tacks in and make sure the cloth has not been swopped over .

the riley Aristocrat had filled in corner falls to competition standard falls .

on the re-stretch we checked and adjusted the level and the slate joints where improved on ,
they were showing proud so we realigned them and surface filled and sanded in .
GCL Billiards will take their time at doing this to make sure your playing surface is good .
once satisfied they will re-stretch the cloth back on .
I also stapled cloth to the rear of each slide in cushion panel to eliminate any slide panel rattle and also checked it was not a rest rattling on the hook
these are common faults on tables with noisy cushions .
a ball hitting the cushion can cause the hooks and rest to rattle so check hooks are tight and that some hooks will have to have a large rubber sleeve over them if rst jumps up every time . by making loose sliding panels thicker with cloth behind this will stop any slide rattling.

once the table is finished we test that all cushions are aligned correctly with pocket openings the same size on each corner and middles aligning up .

the ball ramp holds a ball at a set height up the ramp , press down on the alloy strip to release
we measure the distance traveled down and back up the table , and we test along each cushion

although there is a definite sound difference in what we call no2 cushion  or green ball cushion , it rebounds and travel distance is the same as cushions 3  / 5 & 6
and also 1&4 travel roughly the same distance only slowing slightly against nap rather than slightly faster with nap
anyone can make a ramp like this one , it does not have to be as elaborate as this one which also has  alazor guide which you can see underslung in the clear acrylic .
I do not use the laser function myself all this does is put a red dot on the back of the ball to try and keep it straight when rolling a ball down .
all you really need to test is rebound value of each cushion and compare them to each other
but try and do it after brushing and ironing , make sure all cushions bolts are tightened  up correct before you do this .
you must have some sort of ball hold at set height length up the ramp which will not move as a ball has to leave at the same distance up that ramp every time to make an accurate comparison.

It was obvious there is a different noise on rebound , so we have asked the client to live with it until the next re-cover in 12 to 24 months time and then decide if he wanted to carry on with it or have the cushions re-rubbered , I do not know what make of rubber is under that cloth , but going by the substandard transfer on the cloth makes you think have they used Northern Rubber or Chinese rubber on the cushions ?
once the cloth is off the cushions on a re-cover , I can then inspect the cushion rubber ,

Now it appears that there is one window that lets the sun light into the room and just by coincidence the sun shines on the no 2 green cushion now heat can shorten the life of rubber , even if a cover is over the table heat can travel through and soften the rubber or make it hard depending on type and quality of rubber used .
this will result in odd noise from the other none affected cushions , and it is my view as I did feel for any loose rubber under the cloth and it is fully attached , so I think it is rubber deterioration , due to hot sunlight hitting that one cushion during the day , I have instructed my client to get a blind up on that window having eliminated any other cause , I even checked the height of the rubber agianst the other cushions , just incase it was set higher or lower and it is all the same .