The phone was ringing all through Christmas and new Year , I am sorry if I left a few phone calls unanswered but we decided to have a long break over the Christmas holiday period and start back on the 5th of January with a good 10 day break from work .
We have had bookings and inquiries to move various tables around and also the re-covering and re-rubber work is also starting to roll in .
It seems I am on the phone every day ordering in cloth for work booked in . so if you have a table that is requiring work in the near future or not too distant future please book us early as we are very popular and do not charge VAT .

please also look at our for sale section and look into past pages to see if any table takes your fancy , all these tables are being sold direct from the private seller , and from past experience of sales from this web site , I can inform you that some Bargains have been found like the one above which was just £450 , mainly due to re-location and house sales , but also from sellers who just want to use the room for other use.

we are also being asked to open up pockets on tight tables by not only private households but clubs and even Snooker Teacher Instructors who give lessons on the art of the game , it is now known that a much more open pocket gives you confidence to build high breaks and this enables the person to gain interest as well as accuracy when they go onto playing on tournament pockets which are a shade tighter by around 1/8th of an inch , if you get bored with a tight pocket table you are less likely to practice ,but on a table with wider pockets you can rack up some decent breaks then this removes the mental obstacle that you are not good enough and builds confidence to make higher breaks on even tighter pockets .
We can open pockets from the match size of 3.5 inch to 3.5/8th and 3.3/4 inch , anything above this then I think is a step too far .
Also the table age and cushions design may limit us to how we can open pockets up as some tables narrow as the  ball enters the pocket ,  the more modern the table the less likely this is going to be the case .

another table we have opened the pockets up on , and we managed to do this without having to re-cover the cushions with new cloth , but we cannot guarantee this to be the case on every table , it depends on how it was recovered last time and if we can remove the tacks or staples without damage to the cloth .

This is how the rubber looks under the cloth

we are also experienced in maintaining steel block cushions , some firms shy away from these type of tables but not GCL billiards , Geoff is highly experienced in working on them
I am now going to show a photo below of a very bad re-rubber , this is one that was posted on a web site by a snooker enthusiast in Portugal , you can see why i say very bad when you look at how the rubber has been butchered  and hacked at in trying to form the curve of the pocket . it looks more like a faceted edge of a 50p coin rather than a smooth curve to template !

the photo from Portugal click on photo to enlarge for a better view of rough cut  , Re-gluing of loose rubber is not going to solve the rough cutting of the rubber in the above photo , the rubber in the corner pocket opening should be made as smooth as the photo of the steel cushion rubber in the photo above this one , this is how GCL billiards would rectify this problem , so if you have rough cut pockets and they have left enough rubber on like this one,  I could improve the cushions cut and smooth this all out like  in the steel block photo .
But if they have cut too much off then you may be better off having a complete new re-rubber of the cushions .
Now I am not going to flame the guy who did this as he has not had any formal training in re-rubber of cushions , the problem with many want to be billiard table fitters is they think they can learn the job in under 3 weeks , I can assure you it takes around 5 to 8 years to develop into a good billiard table fitter .

Click on photo’s to enlarge
a close up of how the  rubber should be cut and smoothed out on a standard wood  cushion . now look at the photo above this one to see a bad cut , just imagine how a ball will react when it hits all these cuts and divots and lumps , and also the cloth will split on the sharp rubber , yes rubber can cut the cloth if it is  left like the rough cut in the photo from Portugal .

just to round things off , this is how your table should look after a successful; re-rubber and re-cover by Geoff at GCL billiards .
if you want an experienced Billiards fitter to work on your Bar billiards /  Snooker or Pool table then Phone Geoff on 07753566064 or email c.large@btinternet.com

Tomorrow I am going out to Willingham by stow near Gainsborough to recover a full size snooker table .
I know this area very well but did not know this client who has owned the table for the last 12 years .
We will then be taking  a break for Christmas and new year  , we shall be restarting back to work on the 5th of January 2014 , some days have already been booked out for January , but we do have days free if you wish to have your cue sports table work done early in the new year .
GCL BILLIARDS WISH ALL OUR CLIENTS OLD AND NEW A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND HEALTHY + PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

a photo of one of our clients table recently re-covered in 6811 Strachan tournament cloth with new nets and leathers fitted ready for Christmas Family fun

The past two days I have been collecting a snooker table that was in our for sale section by Private seller , our client had logged into GCL Billiards web site and looked in the for sale section which are tables being sold by Private adverts , and found what he has been looking for .
A rare 10ft Oak snooker table .

Above a photo of the oak table in it’s old location near Congleton Cheshire
I dismantled the table in the sellers Home and loaded with help from the Seller , I then transported the loaded table to Matlock in Derbyshire
unloaded and with some extra help we carried the slates up a sloping tiered back garden to the Brand new Wooden Cabin that had been built by the buying client .

I was very impressed with the Wooden Cabin , in that  a very nice log burner had been installed and once lit I had to take my woolen Jumper off within minutes .
I was informed by the owner that his total spend for the entire cabin with log burner and with carpet and the 10 foot by 5 foot  table installed was all done for a budget of £10.000
I know people who have spent twice that amount on the same quality cabin and table .
My only  improvement would be an annex built on to the end of the cabin to house  a toilet / shower  and a small kitchen , just in case the cabin could be used as a Holiday let later on in life when the house may be sold on to new owners who are not into snooker .

Looking out from the Cabin you have a very nice view of the Valley coming down from Tansley to the right and towards Matlock to the left , we carried the 5 slates from my van up the tiered Garden to the cabin .
I used to caravan at the top of this Valley at  a Caravan site called Lickpenny , there always seemed to be Birds of Pray circling above this valley , but I did not see any on this occasion .

With this log burner there is no need to freeze to death playing snooker , a very efficient way of keeping this large cabin warm

And the 10ft by 5ft table now erected ready for play , When I took the table down the firm that supplied the table missed out the adjustable center slate bearers .
I supplied 4 adjustable bearer brackets and two beams to make this table correct , and it installed to a good level , much better than the last firm who had put all sorts of packing to try and level it and then fill over uneven slate joints to hide the faults.
I am not going to name them other than they are based in the west midlands and sell these type of tables  . and it is not the first time I have had to retro fit these adjustable slate bearers to their tables that they supplied and fitted by their own fitter , I have put right around 5 of their supplied tables all with missing slate supports .
the new slate bearers will make sure there is no center slate sagging and balls running inwards from both sides are now eliminated .
I retro fitted the brackets and cut down the beams to fit at the sellers house so that it was ready to go up with no hassle at this end .

this table is made in china and sold by a number of firms in the UK including Titan and Riley , the firm in The west midlands also sells these and my selling client was told it was made in Birmingham  at their factory ?
I did advertise this table on my web site and it had a good interest from around four buyers looking for a 10ft table  , one enquirer thought it was a Chinese  table made from soft wood  pine and that it was a load of rubbish !
I can inform him it is not rubbish , the table is solid oak and is very heavy wood unlike pine , the table is very well made and just required a better fitment on install rather than the shoddy way it was installed from new .
I am not certain where the table is made in China or who by , but it could be that they are made in the same factory that makes the Star tables as used in professional matches on TV.

one improvement that will require doing is to open up the pocket openings to be wider , they are around 3.3/8ths at one end,  and 3.5 at the other end , our client is no  Ronnie O’Sullivan and will be much better suited to wider pocket openings of around 3.3/4 inch
as you can see there is plenty of rubber left int he corner pockets to improve the pocket to a much wider one and allow more enjoyment from our client and his friends and guests .
We have one very happy client who has now completed his dream of having a nice warm room with a good sized 10ft snooker table to play  on .
I know  there will be a few readers of this Blog look at the wooden Cabin Building and take note of it’s affordability  , and not forgetting the value it put’s on your property as an extra room for little money
I do a few install of tables into  these buildings and this year have done around three installations into log type cabins .
With plenty of full size snooker tables being given away or going for little money , this is one way of fulfilling a dream .

We are sorry to say we just cannot take anymore work on for our run up to Christmas Day
we are working flat out with some weekends having to be pulled into the workload too .
We shall be working right up to December the 24th evening .

It has been like this for the last three Christmas run ups , so we where expecting this year to be no different .
December started off with work in Butlins Skegness with 6 American pool table re-covers in Art cape printed Budweiser Cloth
then a dismantle and erect of a full size snooker table at a RAF base
a pool table re-cover , then working on our rental tables on Saturday the 6th , Re-stretch of bed cloth on full size snooker plus servicing of snooker tables in Nottingham ,
a pool table to do in Belper , then then two pool tables in Leicestershire , 8ft snooker table refurb in Derby , 7ft snooker refurb in burton on trent , a Full size snooker table re-cover .
another trip out to Leicester to recover pool tables , then to Ruddington another pool table , then Newark 2 to 4 pool tables , then up to Congleton to dismantle and load a 10ft .
then over to Matlock to install the 10ft , a full size to assemble and recover , another full size re-cover . plus working on cushions in the workshop ready for the new year .
as you can see I am pretty busy for the next 16 days which takes me up to the 24th , I now refuse to work Sundays  the Wife has banned it not me .
I am looking forward to a Christmas break and Santa is bringing me a new Guitar for Christmas if I can pry it out his hands .

If you wish to book Geoff for any work on your Cue sports table , then please leave it until the new year , besides you run the risk of Christmas drink’s being spilt on that new re-cover if you have it done before Christmas .
Geoff is now taking work on for January and February 2015   ….SNOW and blizzards permitting !

lets hope the snow keeps away this Christmas and the new year .
if the jet stream shifts south of the UK  it will dump this lot on us again .

We have a nearly new refurbished with new cloth and balls latest edition Supreme winner 7×4 pool table available for Rental contract
the table is a Mahogany wood grain design with the latest metal chrome corners and alloy cushion trim
with mechanical coin operation on adjustable price coin mech , so you can charge 50p or £1 per game .
The rental per week for this table is £15 or £18.50p
the £15 per week rental is to have one recover every 12 months
the £18.50p per week rental is for two re-covers , one every 6 months , this is for winter and summer pool league to make sure your team is playing on new cloth from the start of each pool season
We supply 4 cues and two sets of balls , one set for league pool , the other set of balls are for general use .
we give you a new set of balls every year .
We will be ready to install the table after Christmas , this is because we are so busy on our run up to Christmas we just do not have the spare hours to get the table ready and installed , but we may if the site is very local to us .

Phone Geoff on 07753466064 for more details or email        c.large@btinternet.com




although the winner is available in a verity of cabinet colours , we try and keep the majority of our table in the black pearl finish

We only have one Mahogany one and it has now come back in from a site that is closing the pool section down as not enough people used it , the club having 5 full size snooker tables where mainly snooker players .
so this table has not had much use and is mint condition , we are going to re-cover the table in Best Strachan 6811 pool cloth as we do to all our tables , unless you prefer a different grade such as Strachan super pro speed cloth or Strachan 777 .
we always use Strachan cloth for our tables the same branding as used by World snooker on their TV tables , so you always get the best re-covers and maintenance with GCL billiards .

After we had been over to Skegness this week , we managed to tie in with our traveling back from the coast to Nottingham  a visit to a RAF base in Lincolnshire to dismantle and move a full size snooker table .
I have worked on this table many times in the past 40 years .
on one end there is a commemorative plaque from a casualty of the first world war which I thought being as it is 100 years remembrance year to share a photo with you of that plaque .

as you can see this is a First world war commemorative plaque in memory of CAPTAIN ESME FARIFAX CHINNERY of the Cold stream Guards and the RFC
Those of you who are historians would know that the R.F.C is what the Air force was called before it became the RAF
Captain Chinnery was in C flight No4 squadron in France in September 1914
a nice touch for his family to donate the Table to the R.F.C  officers mess in remembrance of their loss in an accident over Paris in January 1915
how it became to be in the RAF officers mess in Lincolnshire  I do not know,  but I think that it was handed down over the years from one base to another .
I have moved a few tables around the UK from one RAF base to another .

I have a link to Captain Chinnery history http://wakefieldfhs.org.uk/genealogyjunction/Sussex/Warnham/WarnhamWarMemorial.html

the Burroughs and watts full size Billiards table has stood in this room for years , but now it is being moved to  a much larger  lounge area next door and this room is going to be used for other purpose .

the Table has now been removed for it’s original billiards room to the new larger lounge the frame put back together and slate’s back on and is now going through the levelling process
this table is circa 1910 and has very thick 2 inch heavy welsh slate sections that pin together to form 12ft by 6 ft full size snooker table .
You may have noticed the edge of a steel block cushion on the floor , so yes this table has steel cushions fitted to it  a much desirable upgrade in the day and still used on match tables on TV
some people crave for these cushions but my advice is if you do not play like Steve Davies then you are wasting your money on such an upgrade.

a photo of the table from above showing the baulk line and D of it’s refitted bed cloth .
and that silver commemorative plaque showing inlaid in the end cushion capping .

We have Just been over to Butlins in Skegness , we arrived Sunday Lunch time to start the 6 American pool tables in hotshots American pool and Bowling centre .
Last year we re-covered them in a grass back ground which was just a photo of turf printed onto the cloth then a Butlins logo across the centres .
this time Rob and Wayne got the Budweiser Rep cornered and got him to sponsor the cloth for the next season for hotshots .
Take a look at the following photo’s , I always enjoy fitting these type of cloths with colourful logos and backgrounds .

Last years design of turf with Butlins logo fitted around December 1st 2013  , looking worse for wear with Coke and beer stains , these cloths looked ok two months ago , but as the season starts to get towards Christmas you get a few weekend specials for the younger people  ( 18 to 30s) and drinks are sent flying all over the pool tables , it is good business for Butlins those 18 to 30s spend a lot of cash on those weekend specials over the bar , and it is not too long before they are recovered again .

the new Budweiser cloth going on , Rob chose a Purple and green alternate colour design from table to table over the 6 tables , 3 in green and 3 in Purple .

the top cushion surround of one of the table upside down on another , these cushions have just been recovered in the Purple cloth which has  a water droplet design imprinted into the cloth

the bed cloth now fully stretched out and fitted , we use a special spray mist coating when we fit the bed cloth , this prevents the cloth becoming slack and also helps prevent drink stains and also puts a nice flower petal scent into the cloth
we are on of the few billiards fitting firms that apply this , and we like to keep this formula a secret , we only use this coating spray on speed cloth and not napped billiard cloth .
the printed artscape cloth is scotch guarded to also help prevent drink stains , but scotch guard will wear off in time as does our scented secret formula . so extra application of spray on scotch guard is a must to help prevent staining like the first photo.

Artscape printed cloth is like matching wallpaper up , the cushion cloths are colour coded and it is important that the colour code on the edge of each cushion cloth is aligned to the same on the bed cloth to get the  pattern running in the same direction and on some cloths the fading to also align up from cushion to bed cloth , each pack comes with instructions of colour coding

Three done and three to go , the lighting has always been Budweiser .
We completed the work by Wednesday morning , and then moved onto a RAF base near Lincoln for a full size snooker table dismantle and move from one room to another in the officers mess  , but that’s another story .

Last year just after they where recovered in the green turf design

And 2012 design of red faded stars with Butlins logo