May we take this opportunity to thank all our customers for the business they have given us over the last 12 months. It really is much appreciated. Thanks to everyone who has made contact to compliment us on the website content. We are thinking of a number of different ideas to move this forward even further.

If you are not a customer currently and have any questions relating to what we do or what certain work costs , please make contact and we will endeavour to fulfill your requirements.

Finally , may we wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

Ted Roberts Managing Director

We have just installed a beautifully restored 8 Foot Riley table into a large country house in Derbyshire. One of the most interesting facets of this business is when you visit properties of this type with all the associated history. The Snooker & Pool industry is a very broad church and we visit and meet some very interesting people.

Whether the client is a multi-millionaire or the Miners Welfare club you can be certain of one thing and that is that the quality of service does’nt alter. We offer an outstanding service on every occasion. Please make contact if you have any questions about any aspect of the business. 

 T                    Time is becoming very tight and we are very busy this coming week with Snooker Table installs. However we have three brand new 7 Foot tables left in stock and available for install.

1. Buckingham in Walnut with Burgundy cloth.

2. Buckingham in Oak with Blue cloth.

3. Barline in Black with Red cloth.

All tables come with Cues x 2 , Balls , Triangle.

Realistically we can only really deliver in Lincolnshire , Derbyshire , Nottinghamshire,Yorkshire,Leicestershire this coming week.

This will require a little imagination -The pictures show for information :-

1. A Buckingham in Oak with Blue cloth

2. A Buckingham in Walnut with Green cloth

3. A Barline in Mahogany with Green cloth

   We have just installed a magnificent George Wright table in a property in rural Essex. It might seem strange to say that we have grown quite attached to this table but its true as we admired it a great deal. The build quality of Wright’s tables are legendary but this shouldn’t overshadow how ornate and beautifully made they were. This table was an absolute beauty with enormous carved legs and delightful carvings to the main frame and cushions. We also supplied an antique cuerack to complement the table and a Lifepool scoreboard will be delivered very soon.

The new owner is a keen snooker fan and insisted on having a frame to christen his new table. The game was tied leading to the black being re-spotted which was then left over middle bag requiring the simplest of cuts. I duly missed (it would have been bad form to win) the easiest of pots. Well that’s my story and I am sticking to it !!!!!

Keep reading as we have a further three table installs in the next five days , London , Derby and Sheffield here we come. If you would like a beautiful antique table - please do not hesitate to get in touch.

 Its taken a while to catch up - but we have just had a very interesting trip to Lausanne. The ferry journey across the North Sea was choppy to say the least. The Gale altering between Force 6 to 8 with gust’s upto Force 10. We were very well looked after by P & O and the food for Freight driver’s was very good indeed.

We drove through Holland , Belgium , Luxembourg and France before crossing the Rhine into Germany for a dash down the autobahn to the border at Basel. The journey had gone very well and we felt we would arrive early in Lausanne. However we were not aware of the dreadfully slow process that exists to get past EU and Swiss customs. Basically a three lane autobahn becomes a traffic jam about 2km from the border as all freight is queued awaiting approval to proceed. An American HGV driver behind us said that it can be upto a five hour wait at the border. We managed to do a bit of queue jumping which resulted in us having a further wait at German customs who appeared completely disinterested in the correct EU paperwork and only wanted to stamp an invoice. This he did and we were allowed to proceed to the Swiss customs whereby in direct contravention to everything we were told by UK officlals we had to pay an import tax prior to proceeding. Fortunately we had enough Euro’s to continue.

I’d like to extend our thanks to our client Ian who provided superb hospitality during our short stay in his wonderful home. The Jelks 3/4 size table pictured above was notable for its beautiful legs that would not have looked out of place on a full size table. It is now situated in a beautifully renovated room in his basement which will no doubt be the focus for some excellent entertainment over the coming months.

The trip back was equally eventful although the trip through Swiss customs this time was very straightforward. We stayed in Nancy at a Campanile which was as good as I had remembered from a previous trip. The offer is very similar to a Premier Lodge or Travelodge apart from the superb restaurant which sits alongside it run by a proper Chef !! The food is excellent and I would highly recommend it to anyone travelling through France or neighbouring countries.

After my colleague Geoff purchased the European Wine lake at the local supermarket we made our way North through The Ardennes and into Holland. The traffic was dreadful and we witnessed one apalling crash on the other side of the motorway near Eindhoven. We were like all the other Freight drivers late for the Ferry by a few minutes. The weather had not improved and we had to endure a Force 10 gale on the way back -so bad that an HGV trailer turned on its side on one of the decks.

Regardless of weather , Elston and Hopkin can deliver your Table anywhere you would like , set it up and ensure you are left with a beautiful table for your enjoyment. Please ring us for any quotes for continental work !

  Unlike many other games , the origin of snooker has been recorded in detail. The history of this fantastic game was alluded to in 1939 in articles written by a Mr Compton Mackenzie . Slightly later in 1941 Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain wrote about his time as a young officer serving on the staff of Field Marshal Earl Roberts in India between 1881 and 1890. He clearly states how the game of snooker was being widely enjoyed by many officers at the different bases throughout the sub continent.

At this time two other games were played on the billiards table. These were called Pyramids and Lifepool. Snooker is based on a combination of both of the above games. The game of Pyramids requires fifteen red balls and a white cueball. The red balls were set up in a triangle but with the apex ball on the Pyramid spot. One point was scored for each red ball until all fifteen balls had been pocketed.

The game of Lifepool could be played by upto twelve people who formed the pool. Each of these players had their own coloured ball delivered by chance from a pool basket.When twelve players formed the pool the colours used were White , Red, Yellow, Green, Brown, Blue, Pink, Spot White, Spot Red, Spot Yellow, Spot Green and Spot Brown. When less players were involved the number of balls was reduced accordingly.

The story goes that Neville Chamberlain who was then a junior officer made a suggestion whilst playing during the monsoon season of 1875 at the military station of Jubblepore that to vary the game a coloured ball from the Lifepool set be added to the table of Pyramids. He continued to alter the game by adding other coloured balls. At first the positions of the balls and the values of them altered considerably. Thus a myriad of different game formats sprang up over the next few years. 

However in 1882 a committee meeting of interested officers took place at Ootacmund whereupon a set of generally accepted rules was ratified and established. The name of the game came about by chance. It appears that a subaltern of the field battery at Jubblepore was being entertained by the Devon Regiment and in the course of conversation he told Neville Chamberlain about the soubriquet ‘Snooker’. This was a name used when referring to first year cadets at Woolwich . When one of the members of the party missed a simple shot into the corner pocket he said ‘Why your a regular snooker’ and bizarrely from this odd remark the name stuck and the game has been called ‘Snooker’ ever since.

The game spread throughout the British forces stationed in India as the rules were explained by the constantly moving personnel from base to base. The game became established in towns , cities and remote frontier posts.

The game arrived in Britain when officers and regiments came home on leave and it is accepted that the first ever game in England took place at Woolwich Arsenal. There was a belief for some considerable time that the game had actually been invented at Woolwich. From these beginnings the game then spread into the Gentlemen’s clubs in London as army officers joined the clubs. It was easy to establish because all these club’s already had both Pyramid and Lifepool balls. Slowly the game spread throughout Great Britain.

Interestingly Snooker was not recognised as an official game by ‘The Billiards Association’ which had been formed in 1855.By 1900 the Association had to accept that the game was now widely established and thus they decided to agree and publish the rules at their meeting on Tuesday 11th of December 1900. It took another 27 years to pass before the first professional tournament took place.

The game still failed to eclipse Billiards until well into the 1930’s. After the Second World War a number of the original and traditional Billiard Halls started to close as the advent of black and white Television gripped the nation. However once colour Television became the norm in most households it became obvious with the variety of colours on display that Snooker was perfect for viewers. From this point on Snooker became the most popular indoor game and continues to be so upto today.