Two amateur snooker players have pledged to play a frame in more than 70 social clubs around the county in a bid to raise money for a children’s charity.
Jon Sully and Steve Burrows, both members of Nottingham Billiards and Snooker Association, aim to raise at least £1,000 for When You Wish Upon A Star by the end of the year.
To add to our recent work in November and December 2012 at Butlins in Skegness, we contacted Butlins to see if they would consider us to carry out any snooker table re-covering in their Green Baize club which has 16 full size snooker tables. We were successful in our bid for GCL Billiards to be selected to do this work.
I had a conversation with one of the management at Butlins about some of the tables they have located in the Green Baize and he was a bit surprised that one of the tables was circa 1870 in age of which I think is a Thurston make. The table in question is the one on the left of the photo where I have the cushions off on the bed which is no 1 table. You may note that this Victorian table has slender legs and a high table skirt when compared to the right hand Edwardian table which is circa 1910. This is a sign of early Victorian furniture as when Edward came to the throne in the early 1900s the legs got thicker like the one on the right.
I was asked to write down the history of some of the tables as they are thinking of adding a small plaque to each shade with the maker’s name and history and circa year of each table. This I will be doing on my next visit, but just as an insight, the table on the right no 14 is a Burroughs and Watts steel block table, the first to be manufactured with steel cushions which where invented around 1890 give or take 2 or 3 years. The table on the left which is the very old table has had new cushion fitted to it around 1980s/90.
Some of the other makes of tables they have in the Green Baize include, Riley of Accrington, Thurston of London, Burroughs and Watts of London, Orme & Sons of Manchester and Willie Holt of Burnley. Some date from the 1930s/40, but most are around the 1900s in date. There is also a top plate table on the left going down the hall which must pre-date 1895 as top plates were discontinued after this date in favour of the concealed plate. The original cushions from no 1 table which is the circa 1870s table would have had top plate cushions on.
As you can imagine, over the years of constant use, many of the tables have had new modern wood cushions fitted. The wood work can look a bit rough around the edges on some tables, but you have to take into account that snooker table time is FREE at Skegness Butlins only. If you go to Minehead or Bognor Regis you have to pay for it and they do not have the large amount of tables as Skegness Butlins have.
Butlins do have a maintenance schedule for the snooker tables and they are constantly recovered in time, so on your visit you may see a very worn cloth on one table and on the next one that has just been recently recovered. All 5 tables at Butlins on this visit have been re-covered in the high quality Strachan West of England 6811 Tournament cloth, so no skimping by Butlins.
The interior of the Green Baize in recent years has been refurbished with a nice low ceiling and the heating in there was very warm, when outside can be chilly at this time of year. If you have the opportunity to stay at Butlins Skegness even if it’s for short break, visit the Green Baize for FREE Snooker. It is situated behind Guest Services near the tennis courts.
No 14 table, The Burroughs and Watts steel block cushions circa 1910. There are two of these, number 14 and number 10.
Note the Edwardian style turned legs, which are much thicker than early slim victorian legs.
GCL BILLIARDS are proud to be associated with the maintenance of snooker and American pool tables at Butlins Skegness resort.
In November of 2012 we re-installed and re-covered the 6 x 9ft American Pool tables in Hot Shots at Skegness Butlins, in special Art Scape cloth with the Butlins logo on it. I was very surprised at how this cloth has held up over the last 4 months. I popped into Hot Shots to re-spot the tables on this recent March 2013 visit and the cloth is as good as the first day it was fitted and it has been used constantly. Don’t stare at the cloth too much it may make your eyes go out of focus ….LOL
With professionals demanding good appearance money for exhibitions it was refreshing to see local pro snooker player Michael Holt give some free time back to the local snooker players in the form of a presentaion evening at Stapleford Cue Club for the Long Eaton Stapleford & Sandicacre Snooker League.
The night, I have been told, was a huge success and the league set up with new comittee for this past season with the aim to attract more local cue sports people to try their hand at league snooker has been given the thumbs up by local players.
I am sure Adam, Steve and Jed would welcome any new players to come over to Stapleford Cue Club to try their skills on the tables and discuss playing for one of the many teams in the league. I have added two links one for stapleford cue club and the other for the new committee run LE.S. & S Snooker League:
http://less.leaguerepublic.com/l/league/765163148.html LE.S.S snooker league
http://www.staplefordcueclub.com/ Stapleford cue club
They are also listed on Facebook.
The Match table at Stapleford Cue Club with the new soft white pro lighting, maintained by GCL BILLIARDS.
GCL Billiards was happy to contribute by the way of sponsorship, towards the presentation evening.
The table after the re-cover in Blue Strachan cloth. Note I put a skirt on after the recover, this will help keep the wear down at the ball end when racking up.
Today I have been over to Leicester to re-cover a pool table, before I have to go over to the East coast for the rest of the week’s work.
The table is in the City Centre and is based in an office block with over 30 workers using the table, so it is in constant use during all break times and was very worn as the photo above shows. The table is a DPT make, so not a bad table to re-cover having the modern allen key fixing bolts in the cushions.
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Rack end of table is 0.0 on the digital level
Baulk end is also 0.0 for level .
The middle section of the slate also showing 0.0 for level .
I got the level bang on at 0.0 in all the main areas across the table and it’s length. These electronic digital levels are ideal for finding low spots on thin pool table slate and they have an audible sound beeper so that when you are adjusting the feet up or down it will sound when it is is level, so no need to keep getting up and down to check for level.
At GCL Billiards we strive to get your pool table playing level, this we find is impossible for other fitters or coin op engineers to do. Many times I have checked a table that has just been re-covered by a firm (I may be doing other work in a club on say the snooker table) and I get asked “can you level our pool table? We have just had it done and it is way out the coin op people just cannot get it level”.
If this sound like your table, then you know where to go next for a re-cover …GCL BILLIARDS. We do it right, we get it level to within 0.1 and thats the thickness of a £20 note! We also clean the inside of the table out when we service a pool table. It is a full service every time, we do not cut corners and we do not speed fit.
I am off to Skegness tomorrow recovering 5 full size snooker tables and then on the way back on Friday there is a pool table to look at, with loose cushions and a re-cover to sort out in Tattershall Linc’s.
More input from these jobs at the weekend on the blog.
SOLD SOLD SOLD
The table has now been sold to a Trade Buyer
And I am looking forward to seeing the renovated table .
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Original advert
A very Rare gillows table , gillows was a cabinet maker in the very early 1800s .
the firm later algimated to become the well known furniture manufacturers Waring and Gillow .
This table is now up for sale , it is the most sought after antique billiard table that was made , gillows only made around 15 tables a year . it was not their main line of furniture making , John thurston was an aprentice for Gillows london branch in the very early 1800s.
please read this information about the table and gillows as a history that was posted by myself and Peter hainsworth in 2007 about this very table.
http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/25382-Very-Rare-table-find-in-Essex-circa-1800-to-1830s?highlight=gillow+table
It is very unusual to have gillows carved into the end frame work of the table , if their are gillows records about the referance number 1105 should reveal who was the first owner of the table , but i will point out that I did find a label on one of the cushions when I re-covered this table in 2007 . and here it is , on the lable it reads a womans name a Miss Gladstone and a village called Witham in which maybe in essex and is not too far away from where this table is now located , I think this is the original owner of the table or a sibling that the table was passed down to. the number 26-483 maybe a job referance number for work on the table or a removals tag , which would have been a horse and cart removal in those days .
but it could also be a lable from when Thurston did work to the cushions Rubber blocks in 1890s
the table would have had a three section wood bed and stuffed felt cushions when it was first manufactured it has now got a three section slate bed which is circa 1830s so the table itself would be at least that old as not long after three section slate 4 section was the norm by 1850s then 5 section by the 1870s , Thurston billiards has done some work on the cushions around 1898 by the ivory name plate on the other end from the carved Gillows end . maybe Thurston will have some record of doing this ?
Thurston badge which I have been told is circa 1890s /1900 , this badge was put on by Thurston when they changed the cushions to modern blocks for the new type of rubber being used in the cushions at that time period , the table is much older than this badge . maybe as much as 90 years older . but no less than 70 years older.
if you require any more information on this table please enter the link to the snooker forum as listed above at the top of this page , there is more information and more photo’s of this very rare Billiard table , if anyone would be interested in the Gillows table , then please feel free to contact me at the email below only , and I will refer youre enquiry to the owners of the table , but I will warn you , fully renovated pieces of gillows furniture fetch a considerable amount of money , this table fully renovated would be worth in the region of between £30.000 to £55.000 , in all honesty I expect this table to end up at Bonhams auction house , that was my recommendation to the Owners. it will prob end up in America , that was where the last one I knew about went to in the 1970s and that sold for £25000 back then .
All proceeds I have been informed are to go to charity .
please do not send enquiries for the table through the comments section of this advertisement , please send them to c.large@btinternet.com
We have been busy expanding our rental side of the business today by installing two brand new Winner Supreme pool tables in a local sports bar. We were contacted two weeks ago for a quote to supply two tables on contract for match play for the two league pool teams playing out of the establishment. They already had two Supreme Prince tables on rental from another firm, but these were now looking a bit sorry for themselves with trim falling off and scruffy dirty insides.
The owner of the sports bar has also got another pub with two Supreme Prince tables in but these are in better condition and he owns these tables himself. I have been maintaining those with good service calls and recovering work. Once I informed him of our policy to do 2 recovers a year for winter and summer league on our rental contract, he was impressed. I also informed him that the Winner Supreme in our opinion is a better table than the Prince, with more sturdy legs that support way towards the centre of the table reducing slate sag. Players know this too.
He wanted black pearl finished Winner tables with 6811 Strachan cloth fitted as endorsed by the UK pool Tour, World Eightball Federation and the IPA and played at most finals around the UK, including Great Yarmouth and Blackpool.
Winner Supreme tables have been upgraded over the years. They have now got real metal chrome heavy duty corners where before they where chrome plastic. The cushion trim has now gone back to alloy trim in place of the breakable plastic trim. The black finish is now a more matt finish where before it was a wood grain shiny effect that reflected the lights into the player’s eyes. The rubber on Supreme cushions has changed from red rubber to blue rubber now they have the better black rubber for longer lasting bounce. Over the years Supreme have improved the table by listening to the players. In our opinion the Winner Supreme is the player’s and operator’s choice.
By having GCL Billiards maintained tables, I always recover on site, making sure that the same cushion and slate goes back onto their original tables. I never come with spare recovered cushions from another table and change over. This practice is wrong, because you could end up with old dead cushions and even slate warped if changed over. Some hire firms have a man in the warehouse just recovering pool table slates and cushions, they even mix up cushions and I have seen a table with red, blue and black rubber all on the same table. That will never happen to tables we hire.
Your table will play well every time it is recovered. We use top class Strachan 6811 cloth on our hire table recovering. You will not play on better.
Before the install there were two Prince traditional look pool tables. Note that the legs are right in the corner of the cabinet and a long length of unsupported centre section which we find produces slate sag, thats where the slate sags down in the centre of the table.
After the install of the new Winner model tables, now note the slanting stream line modern sides and the legs are three pointed fixings that support the centre of the table more, reducing the chance of slate sag.
The top dimensions of both the Supreme Winner and the Supreme Prince are identical, only the style of the surrounding framework and cabinet and legs differ, cushions and slate size are identical.
We have named our rental side of the business Double Eight Pool Tables. If you require a table on a rental contract with two recovers a year then please get in touch with Geoff at GCL BILLIARDS.
Our rentals start at just £15 per week with two recovers, you have the keys on site and all that the table takes is yours to keep. We do not do 50/50 splits, we also do a deluxe rental agreement where we call and service the tables on a regular basis, brushing, ironing and remarking. We are genuine cue sports people who care about what people think of us. We offer the best deal on pool table rentals, we know of no other pool table rental firms who offer such a good or better service. We can do this because we are not side tracked by servicing fruit machine and gaming machines. We do not do these we are 100% Cue sports maintenance and time served billiard fitters. You really will not get anyone better to look after your pool table, either rented or privately owned.
We supply the pool team with a new set of Aramith top quality pool balls every year free of charge and also give a set of standard balls away per table with every yearly renewal of a pool table rental contract.
Our aim is to have just 40 local rental sites within a 20 mile radius of Long Eaton. We do not want to get too large on our rental size because our customers will get a better service from us by limiting ourselves to just 40 sites.
40 sites is very manageable on top of our recovering work on pool and snooker tables. We are not greedy and will not take on what we cannot maintain just to make an extra buck. We have a duty to offer good service not only to our pool table hire customers but also to the Snooker and Pool table recover and maintanence customers too. By finding the right balance we know we can achieve this.
Another of our Rental tables this one located near the centre of Nottingham. This one in light oak finish.
The range of finish from Supreme for Winners.
As with all our maintenance programmes it is important that the tables play level. We use both types of high class levels to check our tables, an engineer’s level which I also use for full size snooker tables (and most billiard fitters have got these), then for fine checking of thinner pool slates, I use the digital level and I can get the table to within the thickness of a £20 note which shows up as 0.1 on the digital level as in the photo. But I strive to try and get it 0.0. Take that £20 note away and the level will show o.o. Has your pool table hire firm gone to these lengths to please the customer? If not then contact Geoff at GCL BILLIARDS.
Geoff realy cares about his clients and goes beyond the average pool table gaming machine engineer to get the table playing good and that’s because he is a time served Billiards fitter.
Today I have been back over to Lincoln to install the new pro lighting to the table I put in the Log cabin about two weeks ago. The owner phoned our contact/agent in lincoln for GCL Billiards to come over and install ASAP.
It was a very tricky install because of the low roof and those beams. The lights had to be fitted directly to the beams and a strengthening wood plank put up between the beams to support the lights and keep them together.
The Owner was delighted with the new lighting, there was no way a coffin type shade would have fitted to the roof without it being too low.
Cost of the new lighting starts at just £240 for a full size plus miles travelled to fit. This lighting install with travelling costs was quoted at £310 fitted with two spare tubes. Two photos below before lights were fitted. Note that we covered the slate bed of the table with blankets as well as a heavy duty cover and we check for level and adjust after fitment of lighting. Our pricing for these lights is very competitive. You just have to check what they sell for on ebay to find out we are the best solution for pro snooker lighting.
We also give a discount for two lights fitted in the same club on the same day.
I have been over to Nottingham today to commence a two day re-cover of two full size snooker tables.
They got their last penny’s worth out of the old cloth on this table, just look at the wear in the photos below.
The table now has a nice new re-cover in 6811 tournament Strachan cloth, with 6 new nets, the old ones having been tied up. The last re-cover was 3 years ago. The room is very good for league snooker but no teams play out of this venue yet.
The tables are Thurston metric sized tables. These are 2 inches shorter on the length of a full size table and 1 inch shorter on the width. The metric sized tables never really took off as the other Billiard firms who were on the Snooker and Billiards Trade Association voted not to go ahead with the change over to metric tables. Thurston jumped the gun back then and produced a few. I have come across around five of these tables on my rounds.
Photos 2 and 3: The table with badly worn out cloth.
Another couple of photo,s from the 2nd recover I did at this location.
Note the very bad chalk dust build up , and at the point where the ball strikes the end cushion , you get compacted slate dust , when a ball strikes a cushion there is equal down force as impact , therefore crushing chalk dust and compacting into lumps , this can also make the ball jump off the cushion , now some of you players out there may have blamed the table being out of level , when a ball rolling down the lenth of this end cushion , the ball rolls off the compacted dust , well now you can see what the fitter reveals when taking a bed cloth off the slate bed . note that this tables bed cloth was last taken off 3 years ago , so there is 3 years of chalk dust here , and thats another reason why you should have youre bed cloths restretched at least once in their life time or yearly , unless you have the tables recovered every year .
the two Metric 12 foot tables after being Recovered in 6811 tournament 30z cloth .
Allways check that the 6811 that you have ordered is the top grade 6811 tournament , it has two blue lines embroidered into the side edge of the cloth plus gold embroidered writing , on the reverse it has a transfer and also a cloth roll number , also the words tournament should be on the embroidery and also in the roll black print number and the gold transfer it may also have the word gold tournament on the transfer too printed just under the large 6811.
Club 6811 has two red lines , when getting quotes make sure they do not fit club when you have ordered tournament , a well known trick that makes them an extra £20 per recover , at GCL billiards we only use the top grade and I show you the transfer stamp and roll number before fitting. 6811
Club grade 6811 is only a £20 saving over the top grade tournament , and this is only viable to use if you have say 15 tables to recover , then it becomes £300 saved , but on one or two tables in my opinion it pays to fit the top grade, and thats 6811 tournament. if you just ask a firm for Strachan 6811 and they say nothing about the two grades , then expect them to fit Club 6811 , as it makes them £20 per table extra . I prefer to be upfornt and honest about the grades and give the client the choice , I only use club if it is asked for. and then I give them the £20 reduced rate for that grade. You get what you pay for as they say.
Beware of undercutt priceing , when I quote for 6811 tournament , other firms may undercutt then use 6811 club or even worse 6811 substandard . when you order a recover in 6811 tournament look at the cloth transfer and side Embroidery before they fit it , and stay with them while they fit it to make sure they have not swopped it over as soon as you leave the room …it has been done .
It is ok to use club and substandard as along as the customer knows that it is being used and a lower price given because of this , I rarley get asked for club and never get asked for substandard , but I often get offered substandard cloth for stock but never buy it . substandard can be anything form white flecks to stop start lines in the cloth , there is nothing wrong with it , it just has faults within its weave . and the manufacturer stamps the transfer substandard right across it , if you see a cloth with the transfer looking as though someone has tried to rubb a diagonal print off the face of it , leave well alone , I often come across cloths that some fitters have done this . I have been around too long not to notice these things.
Geoff Large, expert table fitter with over 40 years of experience. All aspects of snooker, pool and 9 ball table recovers, repairs and maintenance.
My services include:
Hainsworth Toptable recommended table fitter.
West of England 100% pure new wool first grade cloth used, no seconds.
