If you are intending to order a Pool table for Xmas delivery please make contact as soon as possible in order that we can be certain of fulfilling demand.
The order book is filling up and we don’t want to let anyone down.
Thanks
Looking for something a little different as a xmas present !. We now have in stock the Aramith “Stone” and “Camouflage American Pool Ball sets.
Manufactured to the normal superb standards by Aramith these sets are very colourful and add a new level of interest to your American Pool table. Both products are for sale online for £69.95 inc Vat.
I will continue to try and spread a little light onto the history of a number of the oldest Billiards manufacturers. If anyone has any information they would like to share about different companies, please get in touch.
Palmer & Sons were a a very well known billiard table manufacturer during the 19th century and early 20th century.
The firm was established in 1830 and had a base in Borough High Street London. The owner and founder was John Palmer. When old enough his son James John Palmer joined the family business and the firm became Palmer & Son.
Later towards the end of the last century John Palmer passed away and James John by now a father himself brought his offspring George Walter and Frederick Charles into the business which then became Palmer & Sons.
In 1900 James John Palmer retired and George Walter Palmer continued to control the business until it was liquidated in 1936. The business had traded for over a 100 years.
After the first World War there was a significant decline in the domestic trade and sales to private houses plummeted.Additionally laws were brought in to restrict the Licensing hours of public houses. The decision was taken for Palmer & Sons to concentrate on the commercial billiard saloons , todays snooker clubs.
Thus a partnership was struck with a certain Robert Alexander Dickson a slate merchant from Bermondsey. This partnership managed to open three clubs in the London area.
The company became a limited liability partnership and was called the Lordship Lane Billiard Halls Company Ltd. The name was derived from the first and most profitable of the saloons. Unfortunately this company came to an end in 1936.
The demise of Palmer & Sons mirrored the fate of many smaller long established London firms in the trade. The main reason for this was the manor in which society was changing in the 1930’s. Individuals had started to own Cars and Bikes , this enabled people to go away at weekends and take part in other activities. There was an upsurge in gambling linked to racecourses and greyhound tracks - all of which contributed to falling attendance at the saloons.
Its important to remember that for the most part these clubs did not serve alcohol or offer any catering. They survived purely based on the interest in the game of billiards alone.
The boom years were at an end and George Walter Palmer decided to liquidate the business and advise his children that the future lay in working in the City.
Palmer & Son(s) made many fine tables and its a testament to their inherent quality that a number still exist today in very good condition. Nice examples continue to fetch significant prices. If you want to own a superb piece of Billiards and Snooker history look at the table we currently have available. A beautiful example created by some of the finest craftsmen in the business!
Regular customers will know that we have always utilised West of England cloth manufactured by Strachan. The specific cloth we have bought by the roll was called 6811 Gold. However its all change and the following announcement has been made by Strachan.
6811 Silver has been replaced with 6811 Club. Club cloth will have gold lettering on the cloth edge and will be bordered in red. The product quality and price are remaining unaffected from the previous 6811 Silver.
6811 Gold (30 oz) will now be called 6811 Tournament. The cloth quality is unchanged but the gold lettering will be bordered by blue threads. The prices will also remain unaffected from the previous 6811 Gold. However both Tournament and Club are now fractionally darker than the previous cloths.
A few things to take note of :-
Elston and Hopkin will continue to supply 6811 Tournament as our normal cloth.
I have been motivated to write this piece having just seen this wonderful Orme and Son Scoreboard and Cuerack advertised for sale. It is truly a stunning piece of furniture. Its still on Ebay if anyone’s interested. This is a very ornate piece of work created by a true craftsman. Apart from the Lifepool scoreboard and cabinet there is at the rear a lovely cuerack , that makes it a beautiful and rare item.
However the earliest marking boards were of the clock face type and were usually annotated with low numbers which reflected the low scores achieved by players utilising poor quality equipment. As in the picture many marking boards were combined with “Lifepool” scorers. Lifepool was unusual in that no points were scored. Each player had his own coloured ball drawn from a pool basket at th start of the game. Having decided what the bet would be each player commenced with three lives. When a player’s ball was pocketed he lost one life , which was recorded by moving the slide to show one circular disc. When a player’s ball was pocketed a second time the slide was moved to show the second disc. Once the player had lost his three lives he was out of the game , unless he decided to pay for an extra life (a hidden star in the board) by placing a further bet. The star could be moved out of the board using a slide. The player surviving the longest was the winner. As you may imagine these Lifepool scoreboard’s are very much in demand by collectors or indeed owners of Antique Snooker Tables who are looking for a beautiful piece of memorabilia to grace their Games room. They tend to have the manufacturers name on the boards which adds to their appeal. There were also coin operated marking boards utilised in commercial or social clubs. The score could not be recorded until a coin had been inserted in the slot. It was normal that another coin was required when a player had reached 100 points.
In general any scoreboard that has a manufacturers name on it and is in reasonable condition would be worth more than a simlar item that was unmarked. As is always the case condition is everything !