Posted in Sold

Riley Viceroy / Imperial full size oak snooker table for sale in Wales offers around £600 for quick sale .

I have a client who wishes to sell a full size solid oak Riley Hybrid Viceroy / Imperial Billiard table . for offers around £600 for a quick sale .

I say Viceroy / Imperial as this table I noted has the viceroy deep arches but the Imperial slide in cushion panels .
the Viceroys I normally work on have a thicker slanted slide in cushion panel .
so that is why I say a hybrid Viceroy / Imperial model table .
also the deep arches are not as deep as some viceroys but a lot deeper than the shallow arch of the Riley Imperial model .
so maybe an imperial with deeper arches,  a Riley customer option that they may have asked for ?

as you can see this table is solid 1/4 sawn English oak
the sun has faded the lower parts to the legs .
a nice selection of period rests are to be seen here too.

You may notice that the table will require a full re-cover and maybe new rubber , and nets and leathers .
but the wood is in very good order . it depends how you wish to go about any restoration work , from minimum as is to full or part recondition .
but the table is as seen for offers around £600 buyer to arrange dismantle and removal , the table is on ground floor .

these tables look very good in Barn conversions .
If anyone would like an estimate for GCL billiards to travel and pick this table up and do any work required then deliver and set back up , then please contact Geoff through our email
c.large@btinternet.com to discuss this .
all inquiries for this table to Geoff Large at GCL billiards .

an original advert for the Riley Viceroy circa 1920s

Even Walter Lindrum played on a viceroy as the table of his choice for his Home in Australia .

Another viceroy I put together for another client , I put this photo in to show just how sturdy these tables are .

another viceroy i put together this one also in Wales for another client  , note the thick slate pads under each leg on this one ,
this client had these put in as he was a tall player and suffered from a bad back playing on low tables .

and yet another Viceroy I worked on in the Cotswold’s .

an imperial frame , note the shallow arches of the imperial model .
same leg as a viceroy , just not got the deep arches of the viceroy .

they even made 8ft and 9ft Riley viceorys .

Posted in Sold

8ft by 4ft NOW SOLD AND COLLECTED BY BUYER . anyone wishing to sell an 8ft we have had a few inquiries about this 8ft !

any one wishing to sell an 8ft built like this table , we have a few inquiries for 8ft tables , So get them advertised on GCL billiards web site we do not charge to list and we only charge just £25 if we mange to find a buyer for you , only payable once sold , this to cover our time on internet emailing and the odd telephone call setting the sale up .

NOW SOLD AND COLLECTED BY BUYER

I have a client who wishes to sell their 8ft x4ft Snooker table one piece slate bed with 6 legs .
this 8ft Quality one piece slate bed table has bolted on cushions no low cost wood screwed loose cushions , this show signs of the manufacturer quality as very good .
the table is in very good condition as seen in the photo’s .
It had a new cloth on bed and cushions recover less than a year ago at a cost of over £300 in Strachan 6811 30 oz all wool napped cloth .
I will be dismantling the table so it can be ready for collection by anyone with a long wheel base transit with just over 4ft between the arches .
the cushions will be taken off for this purpose , and the frame dismantled .
The cushions do have  a few marks in the wood caused by belt buckles , but you get this on all tables .

as you can see a very attractive looking table with turned legs
the minimum room you would need if using full size cues is 18ft by 14ft
if you use smaller 4ft cues you can knock around 10 inch from all sides off this measurement .~
or you may just have one problem end or a upright support in the way that a smaller cue will be required to get around .
a very nice table for someone .

the all important 6 legs is a must have on a span of 8ft , without the centre legs they just sag in the middle .
when buying just 4 legged tables they can have this problem unless they have anti bow bars fitted like the Riley diner tables .
a table with 6 legs can be adjusted upwards in the middle by shimming under centre legs removing any sagging slate problems .

the table comes with a set of snooker and pool balls three brushes small scoreboard as well as large scoreboard triangles and dust sheets
plus a set of lights and cue rack and cues .

the cue rack in matching woodwork .

brassed bar light fitting with 3 green shades .

large matching wood scoreboard .
Contact please to Geoff at

c.large@btinternet.com

I will forward on your interest to the sellers and put you in touch .

The table will be located on the ground floor storage facility in Ilkeston ,  ready for Buyer collection , or you can use a small removals or a man and  van firm to collect .
or maybe arrange with seller any other agreement .

The owners are taking the table from their home in Derby to their Storage depot in Ilkeston , they may if local , deliver the table for you to your doorstep of front driveway as they run a haulage company .

We could also give a quote for a bespoke service to collect the table deliver and set back up on ground floor installation .
the choice is yours from a low cost pick up using a man and van right up to a bespoke Qualified billiard fitting delivery service or any other part instillation and finish off work  .

Posted in News • Pool Table Rental contracts

POOL TABLE RENTALS AT GCL BILLIARDS ….best value around the east midlands for New Supreme Winner 7×4 table rentals

At GCL Billiards we offer a one year contract for pool table rental.
in that first year we re-cover the table twice at every 6 months and if you time it correct this coincides with your Summer and Winter League start weeks .
the tables we install are all one colour Black satin pearl cabinet , and comes supplied with Strachan 6811 club green cloth already fitted from new by Supreme themselves .
we upgrade this 6811 Strachan club cloth to the better grade 6811 tournament at 6 months and keep it on that cloth for the entire time you rent the table .
we also supply a new set of balls every year and cues and a box of chalk .
All maintenance is covered within the price of £18.50 per week for 52 weeks which works out at £80 per month with all recover’s and the maintenance included .
we do not charge VAT .
after the first year you will be placed on a rolling 6 month renewal , which you renew at re-cover time .
so you are not tied into a long contract after the first year .

The Supreme winner in Satin pearl black latest green badge version with metal chrome corners and flatter alloy cushion trim

Solid metal chrome corners with raised Supreme lettering , ( old ones are plastic sunken lettering )
and flatter alloy trim between cushion and top surround .
this trim is now being made flatter as it used to get in the way of cueing over.

the latest supreme winners have a slot groove and allen bolt fixing that travels right up into the pocket this stops balls bouncing back up off the rail and back onto the table .

old type are smooth hard type that allows the ball to bounce back up and sometimes back onto the table .
most annoying .

latest table in satin black and that Green badge .

we can cover in differnat coloured cloth but we prefer Green as it is the most restful colour to the eye .

We are 100% fully cue sports specialists , you will not get a one armed bandit or amusement machine engineer working on your table that we supply
A common occurrence if you rent from a gaming machine supplier , and not a 100% committed Billiards / snooker / pool  table supplier .
We do not operate any other type of machines ,no one armed bandits , no football tables , no gaming video machines to distract our 100% commitment to fitting Cue sports tables to a high degree .
You will have an experienced fitter who is a fully qualified time served billiards fitter and works on Snooker and pool tables for many well respected clients around the country and abroad .
We do not bodge tables recovering or installation and leveling , and like to work with our clients to make sure they get the best attention to detail .

We have various types of bubble levels from standard engineers levels to Digital Protractors / Inclinometers as seen above
we invest in expensive levels to get a more accurate reading , we do not turn up with builders levels that may be out by such large margins .
they are OK for laying slabs or bricks but not good for leveling cue sports slate bed tables .

I would never use one of these to level your pool table , they are just not up to the job of high degree of accuracy

a £20 note is 0.1 out of level .
if I could get any table to be within or below 0.1 then that is as high as you can get any table level .
and that is our goal .

0.0 is my goal .and unless you are one of these clubs that move tables around or to one side on entertainment night it should remain that way
one thing I do stress out to clients though is , people sitting on a table will also send it out of level .

Our coin mech of choice is the reliable Essex Engineering Straight six
we can place you table on any price you wish from 20p upwards right up to the latest new £1 coin .the standard rate in most clubs though is 50p per game .
if you wish to give your clients a free play table one night a week , it is simple to do , on the free night take cash drawer off and let your clients catch the 50p as it comes back out just under the coin mech .
We find Electronic tables are not as reliable as our Essex coin operated tables , so therefore we do not operate Electronic pool tables.

We also vac and wash ball runs , this is a general clean out of the table at re-cover time , this makes sure your table plays without balls sticking or dirty dust being transferred to new cloth ,
we find other firms leave this important part of maintaining tables correctly and just let it build up .
So if you require a new Pool table , you are fed up with poor machines supplied or poor maintenance or quality of cloth , and are within our catchment area of Nottingham and Derby .
then please get in touch to discuss the possibility of acquiring a new supreme winner pool table installed and maintain by GCL billiards .

Posted in Sold

NOW SOLD Karnehm & Hillman square legged full size Snooker table ….SOLD SOLD SOLD !!!

Table has now been sold to Ben ….many thanks to Keya for being a bit flexible on dates for pick up

 

We have a client who wishes to sell their full size Snooker table
A Karnehm and hillman UK manufactured full size snooker table circa 1980s .

the table comes with light shade balls and accessories .
although square legged it has some beveling shaped into the leg so not a boring square leg
it is well known that square legs do not catch dust unlike turned legs and they do look better in modern surroundings where a client is looking for a modern contemporary look .

the table looks vintage with the buttons in the cushions hiding the cushion bolts
Reeded design to lower frame work and lower cushion facing .
pockets nets and leathers look in very good order as does rails and straps .

It is hard to tell from the photo if the cloth requires replacing , this would be down to any buyer to make that judgement
a recover price depending on type of cloth starts at around £440 to £695 .
but it Could be that the new owner will go with the cloth that is on it .

A badge on the end of makers name .
All inquiries to Geoff at GCL billiards email is
c.large@btinternet.com

If you would like , a quote to relocate the table to your home after purchase , then contact GCL billiards .
We have a two man team that will dismantle load and transport and unload and erect to most locations of the UK .

Geoff Large , time served Billiards Fitter with over 41 years experience .

Posted in Sold

Riley 1980s / 90s Aristocrat for sale ….. NOW SOLD

SOLD SOLD SOLD !!!!!

Now sold and moved to RAF Waddington for our buyer .

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

original advert read

We have a client in Stoke on Trent who wishes to sell their Riley Standard cushion Aristocrat .
The table looks in good order playing wise , the end frame and leg blocks above the turned legs looks to have been stripped back a bit and is a lighter colour than the legs
this may have been done to show the wood grain better .
looks ready to go as it is as the cloth looks in very good condition , although at his moment in time we do not know what make or weight of cloth is on the table .

the bed cloth looks in excellent condition from this photo.

if you look closely you can see the wood end of the frame and the leg blocks have been stripped back to reveal the wood grain better ?
the cushions and the legs are original Dark mahogany stained and polished .

Nets and leathers look in good order too .
the pocket openings look to be 3.5 inch , which is match sized .

a full shot of the table which comes with shade a few cues rests balls and a small two handed scoreboard .
I have put offers at the moment as I have not discussed a price that our selling client requires .
as soon as I have more clarity on price I will post it up .
at the moment all inquiries to Geoff at email .

c.large@btinternet.com

Posted in Sold

10ft Thurston vintage billiards /snooker table for sale pre 1890 ….fantastic value at just £500…. SOLD SUBJECT TO COLLECTION

SOLD SUBJECT TO COLLECTION on august 4th 2017

PRIVATE SALE direct from selling client …..no middlemen fees !

Latest on this table ( july 21st 2017  ) TABLE NOW DISMANTLED AND COULD BE COLLECTED FROM GARAGE STORAGE for low cost pick up just hire a transit van and two men could easly load it , then get a profesional billiard fitter to call round and fit it .

We have a client in Leicestershire who has a 10ft Billiards table for sale at a reasonable £500 asking price
The Thurston made table comes with a nice period scoreboard and set of balls and cues  ,  and is circa pre 1890 and maybe as old as 1870’s

as you can see the table has some nice figured mahogany flaming to cushions
although in my opinion the table may require a re-cover and maybe re-rubber depending on bounce left in cushions , but this would be down to buyers preference .
I would recommend an inspection to put your mind at rest and to decide what work if any you would require if any ? but the cloth looks faded .
the polish is in very good order and I would describe it has the faded wood look and not the Dark red or Brown that many of these tables where stained with .
all the cushions buttons are missing , the cushions having a nice flamed mahogany face to them as seen in the photo’s , a very nice Victorian period table .


Side shot of the table showing it is a 6 legged type , the cushions buttons are missing but a wood turner could make some of these to hide the cushion bolts
the table being pre 1890 has the brass finger top plate pocket plates .
all Billiard tables where top plates until the manufacturers started to make them inserted from the end of cushion type or hidden fixing type around 1895 .
This table has a 5 piece slate bed 1 and 1/2 inch thick , I have visited to level only in the past  , and maybe fitted those nets and leathers for the previous owner of this table a well known professional County Cricket player .
The new owners would like to use the room for other purpose and I have valued the table at £500 for a quick sale , I am sure you will agree £500 for such a nice period 10ft Billiard table is well worth it .

matching period scoreboard also included in the sale , all enquiries to

c.large@btinternet.com

I will pass on any serious inquiries to the seller and you are then free to choose who you wish to remove the table and transport it to it’s new home once sold  .
21st July 2017 , visited our selling client and dismantled the table so it is ready for a DIY pick up if you wished to pick it up yourself .
just back up to garage and load onto a Hire van .
In my opinion the table will require a re-cover .

if you would like a quote for this removal and transport and any other work you may require like a re-cover , then please contact Geoff at the same email address

c.large@btinternet.com

Posted in News

Rock hard 7ft Riley ding table cushions , why some do not like working on these small tables , and misunderstood information given to client .

I got myself into some trouble the other month , when I was asked to quote for a small dining billiard table .
the lady in question was asking my availability and cost quote in renovating the playing area of a 6ft Riley dining billiard table .
I went into great detail of informing the future client that cost was the same labour rate as  a full size snooker table .
only the materials used which would be around 1/3rd  of the price was the only saving on price .
I also pointed out I was not available for another 8 weeks !
this promted my future client to leave me an unnecessary bad feedback on my yell saying I was rude to her ? ( yellow pages ) which I had removed as it was totally untrue in what she was making out that I had stated to her , I still have the emails sent and received to prove this .
I gave her a full break down of what it would cost and stated many fitters would not work on these table and avoid them , I take them on now and again but not in great numbers , but I did admit that I would rather work on 9ft to full size tables and had stated this on my web site in the past and was there for all to read ,  these small tables where very fiddly to work on and can cause problems . But I could still do the work but not for another 8 weeks .
Just to show what sort of problems these small tables throw at you , here is an example that I am working on at the moment .

rock hard crumbling rubber on this 7ft version , old 5/8th flat laminated rubber circa 1910 to 1920 .
I would have to remove the rubber and rebate the block to take 5/8th by 5/8th L shape rubber which would give a much better bounce .

as you can see it does not fall off , it was stuck on with animal glue and took me 4 hours to get all 6 cushions stripped of the old rubber alone .

my method of removing the old rock hard crumbling laminated rubber , and inch at a time taking care not to damage the rebate of the wood block .
I did try steaming them to try and soften the glue this made it worse so gave up and went back to  levering them off 1 inch at a time .

the rebate cleaned up , this is OK for the depth of the 5/8th by 1/4 inch  rubber but not the height of the rebate , so I had to hand plane each cushion .
I had to take off another 1/4 of an inch from the shelf of this rebate to fit the new L shape rubber .
also some nails where in the way and had to be removed otherwise it would ruin my rebate plane .

with the rebate taken down a bit more , this made sure the new 5/8th L shape rubber had a good shelf to sit on before glueing into place .

and because I had to remove some nails in the block , I made sure the block was secured back against the main body of the cushion by screwing them on .
if you have loose blocks then the slip that secures the cushion cloth will be loose and the cloth will come out .

the new rubber fitted and the corner angle shaped and undercut .

the middle angle shaped and undercut , the cushion is now ready for recovering .
this whole process with me going up to chesterfield to strip  the table down and bring the cushions in , stripping the old rubber of the blocks repairing preparing the rebate , and fitting the new rubber has taken two days so far .
in that time I  could have re-rubber and re-covered plus fit nets and leathers to a full size table .
I still have another days work fitting bag nets and leathers , fitting the bed cloth with traveling back up to chesterfield , and fitting the very poor condition raise and fall lifters , which had to be welded to repair them . I will post more photo’s when I finish the table .
this is the second riley diner that I have renovated for this client , his first was a 5ft version which he was sold as a 6ft from an Ebay seller , he went out and bought the 7ft because of that mistake , but if anyone wants a nice 5ft version then get in touch and I will pass on your details to the Chesterfield client .
This was what I was trying to explain why fitters do not like working on such small tables , they can take a lot of valuable time away from our main work on 9ft to full size snooker tables .
we actually  lose a whole day on these small tables if the condition is like this .
so you can see why I only do one now and again . unless of course it is in excellent condition and just requires a re-cover , then no problem , but get one like this 7ft crumbling hard rubber type and your in for a long hard job to rectify it .

Posted in News

Gentleman’s club in Burton , Re-cover Burroughs and watts Snooker / Billiard table

Today I have been over to Burton on Trent to re-cover a full size snooker table .
I have worked on this table a few times in the past , the last time in 2010 I re-rubbered the table .

the table when I arrived was in very good order , many working men’s clubs would have got at least another 2 years out of the cloth that was coming off .
but this club likes to keep the standards up to as new for it’s members  .
the table only really gets played on one night a week !
The table is circa 1910 having rigidus frame leg spacing’s , where the centre legs are closer together , this is because the ridgidus design relies on cross members along each slate joint rather than the normal munting slate supports found on other manufacturers tables.

photo of cushions freeze removed sometimes we call these capping’s , to reveal steel plates , that many call Steel block cushions .

A close up of the steel plate with the name Burroughs and watts Soho Square London .

cushion covered showing middle angle

Bed cloth going on , the cloth of choice being Strachan 6811 tournament 30 oz .
some people call this 6811 gold tournament  .

the printed transfer every 10ft off the roll .

two blue lines and woven gold lettering of 6811 tournament down the length of one side of the cloth
ask the fitter  to see this and the transfer if you have been promised 6811 gold tournament 30 oz .
6811 30 oz tournament is the most used cloth in the industry .

the finished table , if you are wondering who the two Gentlemen in the large paintings are the one on the left is Micheal  Arthur Bass ( 1st lord of Burton ) 1837 to 1909 , and the one on the right is his father Thomas Bass 1799 to 1884 as you may have worked out the owners of Bass Brewery the main employers in Burton on Trent .
there are not many of these Professional Gentleman’s clubs around anymore , not sure on the rules of membership , but in the old days you would have had to be a man of outstanding position and standing to even be considered for membership .
it is still a Men only membership club !
I thought people would be interested in some of my more unusual places of work , this is one such place that is for sure,  heaped in history and tradition .
Many a game of billiards and Life pool would have been played in this club in Victorian and early Edwardian times, over a cigar and a glass of port while discussing business .
they still serve luncheons and the dining table was set when I arrived just in case someone called in for business lunch with cook on standby , but today the place was not used .