I have been over to Nottingham University campus this week to re-cover a full size snooker table that has been in the staff club for many years

the table stripped down , cushions have been re-covered and now for the bed cloth

The finished table re-covered in Strachan 6811 tournament 30 oz cloth , balls set up and ready for play .
I have worked on this table many times over the past 40 years
Thursday  and Friday of this week ,  I have to dismantle a full size table in Clowne in Derbyshire and set it back up at a local Golf club in Erewash Derbyshire, with a re-cover and dismantle and dispose of old table from the premises .

I have been to a local Probation Hostel today to re-cover their 7×4 pool table

The cloth  I recommended was the Strachan super pro speed cloth , this is more durable than napped wool cloth and has good reputation for standing up to rough treatment
Strachan super pro is a top end speed cloth with 70% wool and 30% man made fibres for durability
the cloth is called speed cloth due to it having no nap to slow the ball down .
Finer short napped wool cloth would not stand up to rough treatment so this is the best all round cloth for this particular site and use it will receive.
I also supplied a set of new balls and 6 new cues and some chalk .

The finished table

We have just completed the re-stretching of the bed cloths on two full size snooker tables in Derby
these two tables where re-covered 12 months ago and we recommend that the cloths are tightened to keep their speed up and play faster and true .

we have a long relationship with this club which has excellent facilities and a very nice modern room with bench seating and modern lighting
an ideal environment for playing serious snooker , a room away from the noise of the bar area of the club .
if your table has lost some of it’s speed and there is plenty of nap left in the cloth , then why not get GCL billiards in to do a stretch service on your table , we also check the level and adjust at the same time if it requires adjusting .

We have been busy local again today in Repton Derbyshire.
The task today was to uncrate a three section slate bed table that had been shipped over from the USA where our clients had moved from to their Home in Repton

We assembled the frame and positioned this central to the room with enough cue room at one end .
the room by the way was a very nice stand alone Garden building , having thick oak framed pinned timber frame
Tiled underfloor heating and large glazed area and upper window area in roof  , note the Red indian paintings on the far wall , our client was telling me she used to live in Colorado

this American 8ft pool table used to be in our clients home in Colorado , they had a firm in america dismantle and pack everything in crates and placed in a container with other goods to bring over
as you can see the wool based cloth has shrunk a little .

Stretching this old cloth back on was going to be a bit of a challenge for me

although I am not a big fan of american pool table design , I must say this one surprised me in that the quality was very good , the slates especially where good on the slate joints
On the underside of the slate I found this sticker , the maker of the Table is Connelly  Billiards of Arizona.

Well I must say I got that bed cloth to fit back on perfect , the cushions back on and ready to play

the very nice Connelly billiards of Tuscon Arizona Badge , inserted on one end cushion .

Four ball and claw carved legs on each corner , with thick leather bag nets , a very nice table
those spots on the cushions are position markers to get angles for hitting the balls , I always refer to these as learning aids much like you fit outrigger wheels on children’s bikes !
in the UK we do not have these we have  to rely on natural skill , only in the USA !

We have just completed two older type second hand table re-covers for two separate clients who live close by in Nottinghamshire
the first one was a small 6ft older 1970s type Superleague manufactured by HGM superleague of Hazel Grove.

the 6ft superleague before the re-cover

Cushions re-covered and slate stripped ready

Bed cloth glued  on the slate and ready to be bonded together using contact adhesive , no spray on glue is used ,  we spread our glue on by hand using a glue comb .
that way the slate does not get overspray and balls run off lumps of overspray , always insist on contact adhesive applied by comb . it is the professional way of glueing cloth to slate .
I have had so many problems with people who have had other firms use spray on glue on slate beds , it is the most complained about problem .

The new cloth has now been bonded to the edge of the slate bed , the table is almost finished.

We always use Branded cloth , this table was re-covered in Burgundy red Strachan 777 pool cloth which has a mix of wool and man made fibre and a napped finish ,
and will require regular brushing and ironing to keep it’s speed and trueness of slate .

the Super league 6ft pool table has now been refurbished , our client has  avery nice Log type cabin with very large Bar area and separate pool room to die for
The Red has something to do with the client being a Forest fan , and has been involved with local football at none league management and coaching level .

I like to do two tables per day local if possible , and this gives plenty of time to make sure the table has been re-covered and extra care
and attention to detail by allowing time to put right any problems . we never rush our re-covers on snooker or pool tables .
The next table we did this day was just up the road at Keyworth , a Riley Superleague 7×4 foot , to be recovered in Strachan 6811 pool cloth .

the table almost finished , in one of the best cloths available to the pool table re-covering trade .

Strachan 6811 tournament , has this trade mark logo on the underside on one edge .

Our retired client was very happy with the work carried out on his pool table .

Last visit of this job in Wellingborough Coopers snooker club to complete work .
Table one which is the most used in the club has re-cover in 6811 Tournament  30 oz Strachan all pure new wool

Table one stripped down , all twelve full size snooker tables are Karnehm and Hillman square legged tables , one table has steel cushions fitted to it but not this one

Table one new bed cloth fitted , it gets very warm in these rooms during the summer , that is why there are fans around the room and also on top of each shade .

Table one finished recover in Strachan 6811 tournament 30 oz all pure new wool cloth .

I have just completed a two day trek up to Scotland to dismantle a full size snooker table in Livingston which was a FREE give away to our client in Kelso
We set off at 5 AM  to Livingston and arrived at 10.30 AM .

the free table advertised for Free on GCL billiards web site , the owner was moving house just wanted it out to complete the move

We re-covered the cushions on strip down to save time on the assemble at Kelso , many billiard fitters do this,  it takes around 15 mins per cushion to re-cover each cushion
they are then ready to re-fit at the other home , and there is a time saving in doing this although my client in Livingstone did not see it that way .

I do not know who re-covered the table in Livingstone before we stripped it down maybe around 20 years ago  , but on the cushion re-cover we found that the slips where all nailed in
and the blocks where loose , I re-screwed the blocks back onto the wood every 10 inch  , and fitted new slips to the cushions . the slips are now nice and tight and the cushions will give a better rebound now the blocks are on solid to the cushions .

The van loaded by 1.45 PM and ready for our trip over to Kelso , we took a pallet to place the slates on as we had arranged for a fork lift at the other end to take them off .

on arriving at our receiving clients home we where shown the upstairs room of the old barn , the only way up to the barn room was by concrete steps as shown here
But we had planned ahead , and we where able to get the local farmer to turn up with his extending beam Manatou fork lift  , this made light work as we had placed the slates onto a pallet in our van
and they where just unloaded and lifted up to the top of the stairs , where we just slid off one slate at a time and then wheeled them to the frame  .

And by 6.pm 13 hours after we set off from Nottingham,  The frame with the slates on in the position and level with slate filled  , where it is finally going , our clients had this very modern looking room with a 65 inch curved TV screen at one end
A bar at the other with WC room , the table fits in very well , a modern table for a modern room .

after staying in a local B&B  at 9 AM the next day we continued the work on the install , Our clients wanted to keep to the Blue cloth , so we arranged to have it fitted with the best Strachan branded 6811 Tournament 30 oz ,
The old blue cloth that came off the table was none branded and no where near the quality as this 6811 tournament cloth

The table has been leveled and the slate joints filled over and sanded in
The new bed cloth has now been fitted

the table finished ,and ready for play , I did re-check the level and adjusted the middle section which had dropped slightly overnight

View from the TV end of the room towards the doorway with bar being built to the left and WC to the right .

I stayed at a very nice B&B near Kelso , I would like to say it was one of the best I have stayed in ,
the name of the B&B is Stonefold Farm near Greenlaw .
Alison made me very welcome , and the rooms and Bathroom was spotless , I had a very good nights sleep , I would recommend this B&B very highly