I have been contacted by a client in the West Midlands who purchased a table from a firm not too far away , close to Sheffield.
He was after a Genuine UK made  twin bolted framed Riley Aristocrat to match specs including pocket openings as close to template as possible which is 3.5 inch at the drop.
I was also instructed to replace the bed cloth due to an accident with a chocolate bar that his Daughter had left on the table .
Here are a few photo’s that describe some of the faults that I found on close inspection.

the first thing that stick out was the center pocket openings where not central to the table  , as you can see from this photo , the pocket fall is slightly positioned to the left of the cushion center pocket gap ,
this made the baulk end pockets very tight 3.1/4 inch and the spot end pockets at 3.5 inch .

as you can see the template does not fit within the cushions , the center pocket is too tight .

From this photo, you can now see that I have altered the pocket opening and centered it up to the fall , the center pockets are now to match spec. that was the easy part to do , my client can now pocket balls at a bit more pace ,
before they where being spat back out , as there was not enough gap to allow the ball to fall properly. they where ricocheting back and forth between the tight close together angles .
I was not re-covering the cushions so could not see if I could improve the undercut a bit more to reduce this even further , but did comment to my client that on the next cushion re-cover.
I could improve them a bit more by cleaning up any rough cut rubber that had not been finished off smooth .

By careful removal and fold back of the cushion cloth on the corner , I placed my template and found that I had to remove a fair amount of rubber to make the pocket openings 3.5 inch at the fall .
above I have drawn around the template onto the top of the rubber to show just how tight these pocket opening are , the fitter who closed the middle pockets up , did this to make the corner pockets wider
The table pocket opening where not uni formal , you had two at 3.5 inch two at 3.1/4 inch and the center pockets tight and out of alignment with the center fall .
It was apparent that they just made the two spot end corner pockets that are used most in the game of snooker to template and just bodged the other corners and middle openings , and made a quick exit .
The camera tells the story so they cannot deny this .

With the rubber cut and sanded and the undercut also smoothed out , the baulk end pockets are now 3.5 inch , the same as the spot end corner pockets they are all uni formal .
It is always better to re-rubber on the table rather than on a bench , I have been re-rubbering cushions for 40 years , and I always ask if I can re-rubber on the table rather than take them into the workshop ,
it is much better to set the pockets to the tables own slate falls .
Sometimes it is not possible to do this as the table may be in storage or dismantled and you have the cushions to work on , I tend to make a mock pocket opening up using a large square and cardboard to find the slate fall
Different fitters are taught different ways , but I find my way suits me and I end up with good pocket openings that are not going to cause a problem going forward .

My clients table with correct pocket openings with templates in the pocket , and new bed Strachan 6811 tournament 30 oz cloth fitted.

One other problem that was spotted , the use of wood screws to hold up a loose pocket plate , these where only loose because they had not set the center pocket opening wide enough making the corner pocket plates sag down .
I removed these screws and packed a little cloth inside the two pin holes that the twin pins from the pocket plate locate into , this made them ultra tight .
the use of screws over time would mean the ends of these cushions being chewed up , the wood falls apart and the pocket plate will become even looser .
A bad way of finishing the job off .
I also noted that this table did not have the proper adjustable slate muntins , under the table , these should wind up to the slate to prevent sagging down in the middle .

above  photo , the top button has a hole for a button but no hole in the side long frame rail with nut has been drilled , this is a a dummy bolt hole to make it look like it is a genuine twin bolt hole table , but the fact that the dummy bolt hole is near the top of the leg rings alarm bells it should be lower than this .
The table was ordered to be a genuine twin bolt UK made  Riley Aristocrat match table , in my professional opinion if I was asked , is that this table was originally a one bolt hole frame table , extra bolt holes have been added , but the end of the frame has only one bolt in and the top bolt hole is a dummy , this would not be the case if the table was genuine Riley Match play Aristocrat .
now I do not name and shame other firms , I do not get into arguments , but if a client is paying me good money to put a table right and asks why it was bad , I cannot say I will not comment , he is paying me not only for my time but my professionalism in the art of a fully qualified billiards table fitter , so if he asks me what the problem is before I remove the first screw and it is as obvious as these photo’s then I have to explain truthfully .
I take photo’s to prove this to be the case and also explain it by posting on my web blog .
so if you have a problem with a way a table is performing , it may be that the rubber is sitting on too high block work or that the pockets have not been cut to a template correct or set up correct in alignment as was the case here .
If you have any of the above problems then contact Geoff  at GCL Billiards on email c.large@btinternet.com  .
We will try to help sort out any problems you have been having with your table .

GCL billiards also provide a rental service for pool tables
Our table of choice is the highly sought after world championship supreme winner pool table in 7ft by 4ft external measurements.
We have a nice oak finished table that will be ready to install on a 12 month rental contract in stock NOW.

The table will be covered in Genuine Strachan napped 6811 all wool cloth
unless you require speed cloth for your venue .

Side view of Supreme Winner in oak with chrome metal corners and alloy cushion trim , this is the latest design of the supreme winner as used by the World and UK championships.

The latest Green badge , showing the endorsements of the World Eightball pool federation and the UK pool tour .
supplied with genuine Aramith Pool balls  in reds and yellows , 4 cues , triangle and Brush plus soft black peradon fitted table cover .

Contact Geoff on 07753466064 . or email c.large@btinternet.com

Today I have been over in Lincolnshire to remove a full size snooker table from an officers mess at an RAF base.
We where contacted a few months ago for a quote to do this work ,
The full size snooker table was scrapped and recycled at a friends salvage yard in Grimsby.

the full size table we where taking out of the snooker room , This table had lower quality rubber that was dead and a very thick none branded cloth fitted by a local company that should have known better than to use cheap low cost materials .
I would never have used these lower quality materials , it may cost a bit more to use high quality northern rubber and Strachan 6811 tournament cloth but the work would have been quality .
this is how firms undercut GCL billiards quoted price they use inferior materials .
The table cushions where in very bad shape the woodwork was coming apart , it was not cost effective to bring this table back up to a good standard so they opted for a pool table replacement .
they still have a second table , but i’m afraid this had also been refurbished by the local firm using inferior cloth and rubber .

both tables , we removed the most unattractive and in my opinion the worst bounce from the cushions table .
Leaving this officers mess with a nice looking large bulbous legged table

A second hand 7×5 pool table in very good condition , this Supreme Prince coin operated pool table is set to free play , with brand new Burgundy Strachan pool cloth .
this is supreme’s premier table design .

The officer in charge of the mess was very pleased with the quality of the pool table  which came with a new set of balls 4 cues triangle , 12 red chalk and a Peradon fitted UK made dust cover.

Our van outside the rear of the officers mess , we had arranged for the salvage yard in Grimsby to send down a ford transit low loader flat bed with crane to pick the slates and woodwork up , we kept back some spare parts for future use on other tables , such as pocket plates and bolts .
you can see we have stacked the slates in a three and a two , this is because the small crane attached to the transit low loader can only lift three slates at a time .
I’m afraid we have recycled a few full size snooker tables in the past three years , this is because demand for full size tables is not good and the market is flooded with tables for sale , we do try and relocate as many as possible by offering clients who wish to get rid , a free advert in our for sale section
if you are selling a property that has a full size snooker table and there is a condition to get the table removed for the buyer of the property , then failing a sale recycling is the only option left .

We can also offer an alternative type of cloth to re-cover pool tables.
Our normal cloth for pool tables is a choice between Strachan 777 and Strachan 6811
We are now offering by special order , a speed cloth
The speed cloth of our choice is also Strachan branded and is called a worsted wool man made fibre mix and branded as Strachan super pro speed cloth.

Strachan super pro , professional cue sports cloth

this table is located in a Garden cabin , we recommended this speed cloth due to the fact that the previous cloth absorbed too much condensation and played slow
with speed cloth it is a much faster thinner cloth with less damp retention , and ideal for situations like log cabins or Garden sheds and Garage locations .

The completed table , the owner is delighted with how the table is now playing and text me a couple of days later saying, it is vastly different to play on since  we fitted the speed cloth !
We only recommend speed cloth for UK type pool tables if you are playing in conditions that can turn cold and hot , Garden buildings and Garage type locations are well known for this and produce dampness int he cloth .
By using speed cloth we keep the damp content much lower and the table plays much faster .
We would like to draw your attention to the make of cloth we use Strachan is a quality UK made cloth
Please be aware of lower all man made speed cloth from Europe and the far east , this type of cloth marks badly with friction burns and would look very bad after a few hours of play , the Strachan super pro is in our opinion the better cloth to use , that good that we can even supply it with designs printed into the cloth , like the one’s we do for Butlins with Budweiser design imprinted into the cloth

You can have a design imprinted into the super Pro Strachan speed cloth , but this is expensive to do , please ask for a quote ,
if using a football club logo or trade mark logo with protection rights you will require permission from the trade mark owners to reproduce it ,
you must get this in writing and sent through to Strachan  before any order can be processed for that design .

We have been to Butlins to finish off a large order .
Our last emergency visit resulted in us fitting 4 new bed cloths , on that visit it was noted that a further 6 tables required urgent work.
so we have just visited Skegness for a week to re-cover 6 full size snooker tables plus other maintenance work .

Two of the tables we have just completed the re-covering with new Strachan 6811 all wool cloth

another of the tables we had just re-covered .

Some of the tables where in very bad shape , having big L shape rips in and unplayable.

Looking down the room from the bar area , all of the tables now look Green rather than old faded torn cloths .
Butlins in Skegness is the only Butlins to offer Free snooker as part of the all inclusive entertainment package .
If you wanted to play snooker at Minehead or Bognor Regis Butlins Holiday Camp you would be charged for it .
This makes Skegness Butlins so unique to cue sport enthusiasts .
We wish to thank Rob and Albert for their continued support in using GCL billiards as the main contractor for the maintenance of cue sports tables at Skegness .