Yesterday we completed a job that has been ongoing for a few weeks , a client of ours contacted us to look for a suitable table for his Barn conversion , and with past experience of fitting tables into barns we recommended he look for a Riley Imperial square leg or the larger arched Riley Viceroy , Viceroys are pretty thin on the ground so we sourced a good conditioned Riley Imperial just outside Skegness , We put our client in touch with the seller and they came to a reasonable price between themselves , GCL Billiards prefer to do this rather than carry a stock themselves , we are therefore 100% maintenance only , we transport and do any repairs or improvements that our client requires .
As you can see from this first photo the oak in the building and the table are very complimenting to each other and blend in very well , the client is a very useful woodworker and he took the frame and slates and we took the cushions away for re-rubbering , we corresponded with each other as we where both refinishing the woodwork several miles apart and things like stain and type of polish had to be spot on .
as you can see we got the a perfect match , the cushions however had more finish coats to protect against things like belt buckle and zips damage scratching .
We arrived to find all the slates where already in the room 
so a quick assemble of the frame then the first rough level and we soon had the frame ready for the slates
Our client being a the perfectionist that he is as can be seen from the fittings of the barn like the floor windows and doors which he made all on site in his fully equipped woodwork workshop , He also made brand new slate cloth tack linings to be fitted which where perfect
After filling in the slate joints and making sure the table is level , the bed cloth is then ready to go on
and the Bed cloth fitted
GCL billiards and our client worked together to make sure this table was the correct table for the property and the renovation was done to blend in with the large amount of oak already fitted within the building , I think this is one of the most satisfying jobs we have worked on , our client was delighted with the table , we fitted the table with top quality Northern Rubber , top quality Strachan 6811 tournament cloth , top quality Nets and leathers , and the finish of the polishing by our client on the frame and ourselves on the cushions is also top quality , the table was a dream to level with no problems at all , which is what you expect from this quality made table of solid oak and 2 inch thick welsh slate .
To round it all up , our client also had the new High Frequency lighting with white light florescent tubing , high frequency lighting is the none flicker type , do not fit standard starter florescent lighting above any cue sports table as it will effect you’re eye’s.
Below a scan photo of Walter Lindrum’s Riley Viceroy taken from an old Brochure of Riley’s dated 1937-38 the only difference between this viceroy and the imperial is the large deep archways , and below that a colour template from the Riley Sales catalogue dated 1937-38 , I think the only difference in this colour photo is the deep archways and the slide in panel hiding the cushion bolts was much thicker on the viceroy and slanted .
The third scanned photo is the various Riley patent scoreboards of that period when these tables where produced , I am sure my client will find these interesting especially the one bottom left which is the normal one supplied to Gentlemen’s clubs with two bevelled mirrors and some had a clothes brush in the centre with a hook to hang it on , although on this one it has a paper clip in the centre , CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE for a better close up view . I have added a fourth photo of cue’s that Riley sold around that time , just look at the prices in 1937 for Hand spliced cue’s .
And our Very Happy client has added a few words to add to our Blog.
