Category Archives: News

Unbelievable amount of separate Pool table job’s that we have taken on in January .

I have never had so many to Re-cover in such a short time , we are working weekends and some evenings to catch up .
it just shows that GCL Biliards has now become one of the firm’s to trust to have your pool table re-covered in the proper manner , with Glue that keeps the cloth stuck to the slate and the insides of the tables fully checked over including coin mech and level
we never use cheap spray on glue or rubbish cloth , our cloth is from Strachan the same manufacturer of Professional cue sports cloth as used on all the full size snooker tables on TV .
we can also obtain Hainsworth cloth if you prefer which are another well known top make .

Red , blue , green and burgundy are the most popular colour

some have no choice to be recovered as was the case with this torn cloth example .

one of our rental tables

We also cater for Large club’s with 9ft sam K steel american pool tables and the traditional Supreme pool table

If you would like someone who care’s about the way the table is recovered then get in touch with Geoff at GCL billiards , we are somehow always busy but try to never turn work away .
If you are interested in having a Pub pool table recovered and it is past it’s best , then why not think about hireing instead of buying ? , we Rent pool tables out to pub’s and club’s at a very good rate starting at £15 per week and £18.50p if you require a recover every 6 months for winter and summer league starts.
Most pool tables average £45 upwards per week in takings , if you hire you have no recover charges or maintenance costs , just the weekly rental charge.

we are growing our Pool table hire business every month , we like to keep them local to us though so that we can meet our commitments of excellent back up should anything go wrong say with a torn cloth or jammed coin mech .
we use the excellent Supreme range of Pool tables which we find have good back up service for spares .
and they are the Players choice as used by professional Pool players and used on the UK pool tour , so your playing on the best tables on the market .

The city of Derby and surrounding area’s are a hot bed for Cue sports , and there are some very handy cue sharks about in Derby , I have heard of a couple of Hustlers who visit the club’s praying on the not so well learned players for money matches .

on a lighter note we have got work at a very large snooker club in Derby , we have been trying to get into this establishment for years , but they have been using out of area fitters , the owner was just happening to be travelling towards Nottingham one day when he came behind our highly colourful van , with it’s distinctive photo referees hand on ball on the rear door’s , our mobile phone number is also on the rear door , so it was some surprise that I got the phone call from the owner of this large snooker club located near Derby City Centre .
Can you quote us for some work ? when he informed me who he was I said over the years we have been trying to get into your club for work without success, Now I am self Employed and only live a few miles from this club , I really wanted to make a good impression and make sure I get repeat work .

I have now completed two recovers of full size snooker tables and one pool table , hopefully the owner is delighted with the work and we will get some follow on work

the club has 17 full size snooker tables and a few Supreme pool tables , the two that I stripped down had the lower quality Strachan silver 6811 , not a bad cloth , but not as good as the 6811 Gold  tournament 30 oz which we fitted , you may be surprised that there is only a price difference of around £20 between these two cloths , so is it really worth fitting the silver grade ?
we always quote for the Gold 6811 tournament in 30 oz grade and people who are comparing quotes should make sure it is like for like cloth , as that £10 saving per table  in the long run is costing you £10 more . ALWAYS make sure you ask for 6811 Gold tournament 30 oz cloth and look for the gold embroidered words on the edge and the transfer under the cloth .


The old cloth that we took off has silver embroidered thread wording , this not a bad cloth , but it is not what we in the trade class as a good standard cloth to play on , more for it’s wear qualities with it’s long woolly nap than the fine trimmed nap of gold 6811 tournament .

A few posts to add that I did not have time to do over the very busy schedule we now have during the month of January

We visited a local social club near Ilkeston to refurbish the snooker and pool table.

A modern Riley Regis full size snooker table that was purchased from Stapleford Cue club some years ago  , this is Rileys entry turned leg model and sold in their thousands during the 1980’s onwards. you can spot them by their thin frame work and thin legs .
These entry models do not have hand floated slates so there maybe slate joint lines appearing in the cloth as was the case with this one , I did rake out all the old filler in the slate joints and surface feather filled with car body filler to improve the slate joints , they are still not perfect but are a big improvement , you can just about make out the first slate joint showing through the old cloth before the re-cover in the photo below just about in line with my Van keys , click on the photo to enlarge.

We where asked to recover the full size snooker table in Strachan 6811 tournament cloth and also the old Hazel Grove Super league in Burgundy 777 Strachan cloth for the kid’s to play on

We also fitted new nets and leathers to this table to really uplift the table to better playing conditions , I also think this is worthwhile on any re-cover even if the old nets and leathers are not ready , new ones always make job more complete and the tables looks and plays better as the eye is more drawn to those nice new leathers .

The pool table with new 777 Strachan in Burgundy colour

The phone is none stop again , we have taken in orders for numerous pool table recovering , Snooker tables dismantle and store plus set up , and Snooker table Recover and re-rubber at a couple of large local clubs  .
We have been looking at future work for our regular clients too , and have in the pipeline supply 3 sets of steel block cushions and recover 4 tables , and there are tables due stretching bed cloths in the near future too .
We try and never turn work away , we can also work Saturdays too if you cannot make it on a weekday to be at Home or at the Club , We also have our own stock of Pool table hire to maintain too ,and these are now coming up for recover work also , and we are adding to our growing clientèle of Pubs and clubs who like our well maintained schedule for pool table maintenance which we believe is second to none having two recovers a year as standard for Winter and Summer league pool .

We use the latest new die-cast metal cornered Supreme pool tables for our pool table hire business .

We also do multiple snooker table re-covering work for large club’s at competitive rates .
Our Free to advertise tables for sale and wanted are getting some hits too , and work is coming in for table dismantles and relocations from these direct from seller sale’s .
If you are looking for a snooker table then try the For sale Section on our website , if you are looking for a specific type of table , it may be a 9ft or 10ft or maybe a oak one or a particular make like Burroughs and watts or Thurston or George Wright for examples , then try our wanted section of the web site .
all we ask is you try and use GCL Billiards to relocate the table , we have the tools and moving equipment and the Skilled Billiards fitter to make sure everything is done to a high standard .

We do not use third party sub contract fitters or old high miles  hire vans which have a tendency to break down , we have invested in a new van and plan to upgrade every 4 years so less likely to let anyone down with a breakdown . We also wrap all the woodwork up in professional Removals Blankets .
We treat your table as if it where our own.
The only time we do use a third party is for storage , we find a professional Remover’s Dry warehouse  to store our tables and our good friends Jonills Removals have just the place for this , we do not add any extra you just pay what jonills charge direct for the storage and they insure your goods in with the price.
If you are moving house we can also combine the use of jonills removals for your house move and also take the snooker table down too on the same move .

We use our own new van for table removals , but if you wish for the table to be moved at the same time as main removal may we suggest our good friends jonills below for the house removal.
   
http://jonills-removals.co.uk/

We are ready to start taking orders for the New 2014 year, we already have work booked in for some of January and would like to fill the rest of the month in and also start taking work in for February and March .
We decided to take a longer break this Christmas and New year and move our Daughter into her new Home in Nottingham and do a little decorating and tiling , now that has been done we are 100% into taking New orders for Re-covering  – stretching of Bed cloth’s and levelling / Table move’s / Re-rubber / Pool table Recover & Rental .

We specialise in relocating tables from one area to another offering a full service of table dismantle load transport and set up , if you have a table that requires a move then please get in touch , our rates are very competitive .

a Full size snooker table table move , van loaded , cushions and legs well wrapped .

This move was for a customer who bought two shipping containers to store the entire contents of his house , his House is then going to be demolished to make way for a total new build .
We just dismantled the Full size table and stored it in one of the containers .

Well Dennis has not lost his popularity as a player and all round cue sports commentator and comedian .
A special night at the Stapleford cue club in Nottinghamshire thanks to Adam Jed And Steve Judd .
the club is not very large and the aim is to not overfill but to have a more personal hands on personal approach to entertaining the 75 to 100 people who attend these special nights put on by the management of Stapleford cue club near Nottingham and very close to junction 25 of the M1 so easy to get to.
here are a few photo’s of the night

Myself and Dennis on the night , before anyone says it , NO I don’t look like Steve McLaren !
we had a few Derby county supporters in and they where chanting to me that I looked like him , but Iv’e got more hair but only just !
I wonder where they got that idea from Jed ?

Tuesdays work was to re-cover a full size snooker table in a basement games room in Trowel in Nottinghamshire close to  ilkeston in Derbyshire.
The table had been purchased by our client from stoke for just £350 and a firm from stoke had set the table up around 6 months ago.
they had been saving for a re-cover for the last six months and called GCL billiards in to complete the work.


the pocket openings where 3.5/8ths at the fall before I took the table apart , but when they went back together the opening was 1/16th less due to the fact that I got the cushions on tightly fitted , if the cushions are not on tight they will not give the full rebound value of the rubber and the openings would be slightly larger as was the case on this table .
The table looked like an allied billiards table make.
I found that the heating that was under the table was too hot being a convector open element type which gave a very hot spot in the centre of the table the heaters being a free standing  shallow type so something could have fallen on them  , I have advised to replace with  tube heating of lower wattage or oil filled radiators , a gentle rising sealed in heat is much better for the slate and wood work than an open convector type , in fact I would say it was a time bomb waiting to happen , if anything had fell on top of these heaters being only around 12 to 14 inch high , as some other parts of the underside of the table was being used for storage then a fire would have started .
The owner has taken this on board and is looking to replace ASAP .
He is highly delighted with the work that GCL Billiards have carried out and advice given not only about heating but also new type lighting and type of Brush and iron required to keep in good order .
To complete our work on this table we adjusted for level and looked at the slate joints , the table has a set of very good Hand floated Italian slates which makes the £350 paid for the table a real Bargain .

Mondays work was to set up a Sam K steel american pool table .

When we arrived the frame was already set up with slates on , but they had left out vital parts from under the slate  , we removed the slate then put all the small metal levelling pads on the bolts within the upper frame , we then put the 3 section slate back on and levelled the table , put the lock down bolts in and filled the slate joints in .

we then stripped the cushions and started the re-cover in new Burgundy american speed cloth .
the table was a little tight in the cabin and they will have to play with some cut down cue’s for some cushion shots .

as you can see it was daylight when we started this job , but it was late when we finished it and really dark outside , partly down to some parts missing when they put the table in removals storage and us having to find spare bolts and nuts for it . and us having to strip down to rebuild what was put up before we arrived. also it was very tight working around the table  , I am  6 foot 2 inch I found it really cramped at time’s , but it is not the tightest area I have put a table up , I once put a full size snooker table into a terraced house with 18 inch space down each side for cueing !