Category Archives: News

Last week we visited an Higher learning institution that has two snooker tables that had the old tin metal lighting canopy .
these had years of nicotine on the underside and very poor low quality low wattage lighting bulbs , it was like playing in a cave under candlelight !
I recovered these tables last year and was due to go back and re-stretch the bed cloths , so took the opportunity to also fit two new sets of lighting for them

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Before they had these 1980s alloy shades with nicotine stains on the underside .

using the original hanging wires that where on the old shades we had these new high frequency units up very quick , they where prewired in the workshop and mounted onto metal U channelling to make one 10ft twin unit .

The lighting is now a lot brighter to play under , the costing for these two tables came to £600 for two table’s fitted , so £300 per table for each complete double unit table light delivered and fitted .
I also repaired one small cut around 1 inch in one bed cloth . and then checked the levels .

 

We are re-visiting clients who 12 months ago had a re-cover from GCL billiards
We are now re-stretching the bed cloths and then checking the level of the table , last week we visited two private houses with different Snooker rooms .
The first was a Log Cabin in the garden  of one house .

An internal measurement of 29ft by 17ft makes this log cabin not just a games room or man cave but also a place to relax in .
It stretches from around 12ft to spare at the bottom of the Garden to just 1 metre from the house at the other end , they do have a bit more Garden to the left side of this photo above.

A huge log cabin which I was informed cost around £6000 flat packed including base , by the owner.

The middle internal side strengthened walls  do encroach into the side of the table and a short cue is used at that point if it is an obstacle for cueing , a small price to pay to get a full size snooker table in . so we advised that the Baulk ( D end ) was placed at that end , and the business end black red etc kept free from obstruction .

the log cabin could not have the old coffin shade installed due to low roof level , but the new office type high frequency lighting is much better for it .
Our client was away in Germany when we did the re-stretch but his Partner let me in to do the work .
Our second job that day was a different type of table and room , also note the same type of High Frequency lighting above this table too !

After the log cabin with temperatures of 30C , it was nice to work in an Air conditioned room especially built for this Antique table.

I had a little problem with the level being out on this table due to settlement of the building , surprising the log cabin table had not moved out of level as much as this one
I spent over 1 hour levelling this table , and eventual got the result that I was after , the electronic level I used as well as the engineers metal level shows the spot on figure I was after , the table is 0.0 , place a £20 note under one end and it read 0.1 , this table is within the thickness of a £20 all over it’s slate bed , mostly 0.0 and only the odd place where it is 0.1 .
Now that’s being picky !

If you have a table that is playing slow , cloth can be moved by fingers bridging onto ball and is also out of level , then maybe you require a re–stretch of bed cloth service visit from GCL billiards

 

 

 

GCL Billiards have built up a good reputation in our local Surrounding counties that is the heart of the EAST Midlands .
We do many Private Houses as well as Pub’s club’s and institutions .
Please take a few minutes to look at the following photo’s to see the vast type of clients and tables we work on and for .

Most of these clients do come back to us because they where impressed with our work ethics , for further maintenance of re-covers , re-stretching 0r even relocating the table over hundreds of miles or just around the corner . GCL billiards is the Firm to contact in the EAST Midlands for any cue sport maintenance , GCL billiards is Geoff Large so you are working direct with the fitter , a time served fitter at that,  who has the knowledge to advise on the best action of work to be carried out , some firms employ telephone answering people or maybe a secretary when making enquiries about a problem or simply good advice , these secretaries  have not got Cue sport knowledge of over 40 years hands on experience of both billiards Snooker and Pool tables of various makes and designs .

Geoff can give you instant advice 99% of the time , he may require a photo , but you are assured at GCL billiards  that the person you are dealing with has the experience to give good advice and also carry out any work on your prized Cue sports table .

Geoff worked in the Billiards snooker & pool Industry for many years working for his Uncle and later for John Hopkin  a well known figure in the billiards industry who sat on the B&STA committee with Norman Clare of Thurston Clare and Padmore’s later to revert back to Thurston , before he formed GCL billiards with his wife Carol , was he right to go it alone , YES he only wishes he did it many years ago , he had become disillusioned with the way the industry was being absorbed by Coin operating people who where only interested in speed work and volume of cash influx rather than taking their time as he was trained to do a good job by the time served billiards fitter before him , in fact three time served Billiards fitters.

Geoff is also sought after by the local pool players and pubs and clubs to maintain their table’s using Strachan quality cloth . We not only work on full size snooker tables but any size and make of cue sports table is it has pockets or rings and cushions and a ball rolls on it , GCL billiards is the firm to contact
We also Rent pool table’s on longer term contracts , using the excellent Supreme Winner in all our site’s , We only offer this as a local network based in a 25 mile radius of NG10 4JU . if you are just outside this area then get in touch we may take you on board for rental table’s .

Contact Geoff Large direct on 07753466064 or home answer phone 01159725355 also by  email c.large@btinternet.com

 

 

GCL Billiards strive to do the best work possible using the best materials , We always recommend Strachan as our main cloth to be used either for Snooker or Pool or american pool  .

We can supply hainsworth and even Euro pool cloth , but we point out to our clients the many years of tradition of Strachan cloths and why it is used by the main tour for both snooker and Pool world wide.

Strachan produce a cloth for both the Professional and the home user or youth club where wear longevity is required over high quality of finish .
So a price to suit pocket with the same Brand Name you can trust Strachan fitted by a firm you can trust GCL billiards.
You do not have to live in the East midlands to qualify for a visit from GCL billiards to carry out your recover work  , we do venture out further . please ask .

Just a few photo’s a client has kindly sent me of a table I set up for him in his Garage workshop office as he like’s to call it
Photo 1 the frame assembled and level ready for slates

The slates being put on the levelling pads that are then adjusted by spanner .

Next photo , the slates have been levelled and the joint filled with car body filler to make as one bed then all bed lightly sanded to remove any unwanted grit

The finished table with original Red cloth re-fitted , some firms will try and get you to have a re-cover , it just depends if the cloth has been fitted correct and still enough to pull tight and refit , plus the old cloth has to be taken off very carefully .

Many thanks to Steve for supplying the photo’s .

Sam K steels take expert trained fitters to set up , they are very complicated pieces of cue sports equipment , having hundreds of bolts and screws and all are vital to make the table spot on .
if you start to miss screws and bolts out of these type of tables , then they will never play right .
when buying one please make sure it is all complete .

Monday and start of another week , 5 days booked out to Re-cover 7 UK pool tables , 4 American pool tables and one full size snooker table.
This is a Regular client of GCL billiards in Grantham who we are very grateful for the repeat work yet again .
Many thanks to Malcolm and Siobhan for trusting GCL billiards to work on your cue sports tables.

A view of the club in Grantham in the downstairs Pool lounge , Sam K steel American pool 9 fts in foreground , and Supreme Winner 7 x4 pool tables in background .

Sunday today and we have been over to Coventry to install three Brand new Supreme winner pool tables in one venue . these are our Rental stock tables and the owner has worked out our excellent rates of rental of pool tables to include two re-covers a year is very good value when placed on his tax return as outgoings as Rental tables  , it was a no brainer to rent or to buy ? Have a look at these excellent tables as used by County and National teams to play top tournament games on . These tables are located at the Arches Snooker Venue in Spon End Coventry . Steve the owner was delighted with the tables as was the resident top player Josh Harrison who was chomping at the bit to get on the tables and has picked out table three as his preferred table . I am sure the Arches will get even more people playing pool now they have three top quality championship tables to play on , I can see it becoming the place to be to play pool in Coventry , you can be assured with new cloth going on every six months the tables will always play well , Steve is going to see they are kept in good condition too as he will personally see to the Ironing and levelling of the tables when they have to be moved to one side each week due to the Excellent live music on Saturday evening  that the venue also puts on .

This week I have been over in Northamptonshire to start the work on a large snooker club which has 12 full size snooker tables , 2 american pool tables and 6 UK supreme pool tables.
I started off on monday to recover the three Supreme Pool tables , and found a few faults and gave advice accordingly to sort it out going forward on the next recovers.

Photo of pool table area , the dots are dust particles from the recovering the flash is bouncing off them .

The previous firm had swapped cushions over , by bringing second hand already covered cushions they swapped the good cushions with this miss match set of 3 red rubber , 2 black rubber and 1 blue rubber , all these rubbers offer different rebound value and are all on one table so  a miss match .
My recommendation is to buy a new set of cushions and replace next time round and try and match up with other cushions to get all black rubber sets .
Once sorted out the cushions should never be mixed up , always recover and put the same cushions back on each table they came from , as the pool team will be used to the bounce and it could spoil their game to put rubbish dead cushions or mixed up cushions like these on when they have had good rebound cushions in the past.

Another mixed set this time 5 old red rubber cushions and one newer Black cushion rubber .

From Tuesday to Friday we re-covered 6 full size snooker tables in the upper room , this room also had a match set of riley steel Block cushions fitted , all the tables where Square legged Karnehm & hillman tables ,  these are very good tables to work on , but they had a right cowboy re-cover them last year and he had stapled all the bed cloths on and used the lower grade 6811 CLUB cloth when they had ordered 6811 Tournament gold .

the two photo’s above showing that the last fitter had stapled the bed cloths on , these where badly fitted cloths with loose centre pocket falls , long club cloth nap which made the tables very slow , they had only been on a year , and it was the club’s intentions to reuse these cloths on the downstairs tables but they where well past their sell by date .
Always have a bed cloth tacked on , with heads of tacks showing proud so that any future re stretching can be done with ease by simple flick out of bed cloth tacks  by leaving space to lever each tack out with a screwdriver , this has been the prefered method of attaching cloth for over 100 years , staples are the prefered method of attaching cushion cloth but NEVER on a bed cloth .
this is not the first time I have come across this fitters work , last year I did the sister club to this establishment and that cloth was taken off after just one months use .
I was told by one of the local snooker players who was speaking to this fitter a year ago , he had told him that he had been in the trade of fitting snooker tables for over 30 years , well all I can say he must have taught himself , because a time served fitter would never do this type of cowboy work , and I know he is still out there doing it and is based in the London Area so buyer beware as they say .

The Match table has steel block cushions on , giving a better truer bounce .

The corner pocket opening on the match table is 3.5 inch at the fall , I have measured all corner pockets and they are all the same , the last fitter had them al at different sizes , and on all the tables he had just used a speed drill to tighten the cushion bolts up , and not nipped them up tight after with a brace and socket , I made sure all bolts where nipped up tight .
Next week I will return for one more snooker table re-cover , and two american pool table re-covers in Strachan super pro speed cloth with 70% merino wool to 30% man made fibre , this is the best speed cloth to use , not only for fitting easy , but for playing on too .
we are very busy at the moment , a few Saturdays to also fill in before i go away on holiday , as I do not want to turn work away while it is coming in like this .
A busy firm should explain a lot of things to people , it is only busy because we care about what we do and the way we go about it , using good quality cloth and good time served Workmanship , and lastly we listen to our clients , we do not miss inform them just to make a quick exit , today for example , when I had finished al the tables I cleaned up vacuumed the floor , then checked all the levels of the tables  in the snooker room .
Then got the client to inspect , I knew though by feedback from the players that they where very happy with the work and cloth used.