I have a client ( Barry ) who has a full size snooker table for sale that is allready dismantled ready for collection , he is based in Shirebrook Nottinghamshire .
Barry is a keen player and has upgraded to the top of peoples wish list a superb ex pro Players STAR Table .
as used on most tournaments on TV .
Barry has a sqaure leg Belvoir Billiards table , which was manufactured by my Mentor Master billiards fitter Mick Robb .
Mick used to work for a company called Eslton & Hopkin , and was one of their top billiard fitters back in the 1960s .
He was a master at all the skills of woodworking and billiards fitting .
When black and white TV came out in the 1950s , it killed snooker , a lot of billiard halls closed becuase every one stayed at home to watch the new small screen box TV as entertainment .
Mick was a victim of that era , as the 1960s came the decline of billiards and snooker and biallard halls shut up and boarded up , Mick drifted into cabinet making at Redifusion , making TV and radio wood cabinets . until the late 1970s .
Enter Colour TV of the 1970s ,and what did the makers of colour TV use to promote their new product .
SNOOKER and pot black on TV as they used different colour balls , and because of that , there was a massive resurgence of interest in Snooker in the late 1970s and early 1980s , when snooker was that popular that new Snooker clubs where opened in every town , some small towns having as much as 3 or 4 clubs opening some yards or a couple of mile apart .
Mick came out of being employed at Redifusion , and started his own billiards company BELVOIR BILLIARDS , Mick lived just a few miles from Belvoir Castle , taking his firms name from that statley home , well it was better than calling it Aslockton or Whatton Billiards .
Mick did a bit of Subcontracting for my Uncle , who I had joined from leaving the army in 1976 .I soon atatched myself to Mick as I wanted to learn the art of Billiards fitting , after 4 years working alongside Mick, he guided me to wards a better learning curve and emloyment at his old Employer Elston & Hopkin .
Mick at that time decided he wanted to produce his own tables and he bought two giant army huts and had them installed in his back Garden in Aslockton , he fitted one workshop out with woodworking machinery and wood storage , the other he partioned into two workshops , one for polishing the other for working on cushions and setting frames up prior to being sold , so every table when through one at a time , NOT MASS PRODUCED .
You can be assured every table Mick Robb made had the same care and attention , if you wanted a turned leg table he used to sub contract the wood turning out to another local woodworker , who turned legs for him from wood he supplied , but still assembeld them in his two workshops .
This table that is for sale is square legged , as most he made where . he made around 12 square to 2 tables turned . Every year for around 8 years
He only produced these for around 8 years , and said to me it was better to have the frames and cushions made by a firm in Manchester as he could not compete on price making them himself , even though his where better made , this table is 100% an original Mick Robb produced table , my client wants just £500 for it collected .
You may notice that Mick used the latest match play BCE extra broad bow pocket plates on many of his tables .
I do not have a photo of the table set up Barry sent me a photo of the two sqaure legs bolted to an end panel and the cushion on top for reference , I do have a photo of one of the turned legs tables I dismantled for a client a few years ago .
Barry says he has every part all dismantled and stored in a dry area .
I did set Barrys Star Table up for him , this is when he showed me the square leg Belvoir Billiards table he had allready dismantled to make room for the new table .
All inquiries to Geoff Large at GCL Billiards c.large@btinternet.com
I will forward any buyer interested onto Barry .
Barry’s new star table which cost a lot more money than his square leg Belvoir Billairds table .
Yes it some ways you could say the Belvoir was better made as each one was a one off , one at a time production , the Star is mass produced in China .
and the fact that they spray legs gold or silver on todays tables , hides the quality of wood used , they can get away with using much less quality wood , Micks Belvoir table was all top quality kiln dried mahogany .
