I felt I just had to post this article which I came across the other day. In life the facts are often more bizarre than the fantasy !

This was taken from “The Metro” website.

It may sound potty but border collie Blue is right on cue when it comes to playing pool.

He rests his front paws on the table and then, standing on his hind legs next to owner Jeff Davies, looks down the cue to see if he has a shot on.

When he has, he sinks the ball into the pocket – using his paws.

Blue, aged ten, has been nipping down to the Boreatton Arms in Baschurch, Shropshire, since he was a six-week-old pup.

In scenes reminiscent of those paintings adorning many a pub wall, showing billiard-playing dogs, Blue began to mimic Mr Davies whenever he took to the table, following the balls as they cannoned off cushions.

Now he has become the canine king of the green baize and partners his master in games.

Mr Davies, a building contractor, said: ‘He has played pool for a long time now and I actually think he has got better.

‘Now he can pot the balls – as long as he can reach them he can pot them. He also runs alongside the side of the table following the balls as they hit the cushions and fly across the baize.

‘I reckon he is probably the Hurricane Higgins of the dog world.’

Mr Davies, 39, bought Blue from a local kennel which houses abandoned dogs in 1997 and took him back to share his home with wife Charlotte and son Scott.

Apart from playing pool, Blue gets to sleep in his own bedroom at home, works on the building site and even accompanies Mr Davies on his duties as a retained firefighter.

Mr Davies said: ‘He is no ordinary dog – it’s more like he is a person. He does everything I do; there is nothing he won’t try. He’s got the best room in the house, with a double bed, ensuite bathroom and a TV.’

                              We have just agreed the acquisition of a beautiful George Wright Full Size table with ornate Cue Cabinet with Lifepool Scoreboard.

We will give you more detail once we have looked at the table and cabinet in more detail. Here are some pictures for you to be going on with. If you are interested in acquiring this table when fully restored or the table and cabinet please do not hesitate to get in contact.

  If you look on our site under Elston & Hopkin Snooker tables you will see our tables named The Rossall and The Sedbergh.

Both these tables have now got updated real photographs showing the tables in situ. I do hope you like them as they are tremendous value for money.

Dont forget the Full Size tables have Steel Block Cushions.

  I still cannot quite believe we got away with it. The evening before the show was one of the worst storms we had seen for many years. Bizarrely as we got up the next day the weather was absolutely perfect and we had two days of uninterrupted sunshine apart from rain one hour from the end of the show on Thursday.

Thank you to everyone who came to our stand and the fantastic reception given to our products. It never ceases to amaze me how many tables are actually in domestic residences - we had many conversations discussing the cost of refurbishment of Full Size tables and gave out almost 300 business cards.

We sold one of our favourite antique tables a 9Ft Palmer & Son to a gentleman in Lincolnshire who will take delivery when all his building plans are complete.

One of the highlights of the show was watching the Mayor of North East Lincolnshire Stuart Swinburn challenge the chauffeur of the Mayor of North Lincolnshire to a game of pool on our outdoor table. Stuart has clearly had a misspent youth as he plays a mean game of pool.

 Once again thanks for all your support - we will see you there again next year !

 We have just got back from installing a newly designed outdoor Pool table “The Rustic”. The table will be available to play outdoors all year round due to its treated wood and all weather cover. These tables are available as either a domestic or Coin operated table. The commercial version is proving very popular with large pub chains as a method of generating income once the smoking ban takes effect in the UK.

 I have to put on record my thanks to Tim Healey from the village of Great Barrow near Chester for his ongoing research into the history of this table. It appears we have generated a lot of discussion and interest in the village which is terrific.

We appear to have traced the table to its original installation in a large country house known as “Greysfield”. The property was built in the late 1800’s by a Mr Paul who lived in the property up until 1905. At this point the property was sold to a Mr Dennis who extended his property to both the North and the South. The ‘Billiard Room’ was upstairs on the North side of the house so it is highly probable that the table was purchased new circa 1905.

We have also found out that a previous resident of the village Fred Stanyer ( a skilled joiner) did a lot of work at “Greysfield” and he told his son “Brian” that Mr Dennis was not very fond of the table and he decided to give the table to the Billiard club as they had a sub standard table at the time. The belief is that this occurred at the time Mr Dennis left the village circa 1927. The company that moved the table was “Raper & Sons” of Manchester a very well known company of its time. 

This appears to be a very generous gift but Mr Dennis apparently took great interest in village matters and regularly gave support to various societies and clubs , not least being the village cricket club.

Thus we can be certain that the table was situated in the “Okell” room in the village hall up until its sale (controversial at the time) in the late 1960’s. The details of the sale are still unclear but it would be a reasonable assumption that it went to “Ashcrofts” as they have their stickers on the table.

Little did the residents know that within a few years the table would be owned by a multi millionaire Rock Star who would play regularly on it in his home in Miami , Florida before it made its way back to leafy Surrey , where it still brings huge enjoyment to its current owner.

 The inaugural Brigg Pavilion Pool Tournament took place last Sunday. Its expected that this will be the first of a number of similar tournaments to take place in this location.

We supplied the tables for the tournament , but the real stars were the competitors. Take a bow boys your being looked at all over the world !

Brigg Pavilion hosts a number of Live show and community events. www.briggpavilion.co.uk

Loaded magazine (cool or what !) are running a feature in their September issue. We have been chosen to provide a product for their ”Right Stuff ” section. Make sure you buy the mag available in August.

We’d love to tell you what it is , but you’ll just have to wait !

If further proof was required about the astonishing changes the World Wide Web provides then bear this in mind. We have just added another country to our list of customers. Thanks very much to our new customer in The Ukraine who has purchased a cue from us. We continue to export products to all corners of the world , so please do not feel you are too far away - your not !

We are humbled by your continued interest in our website. We have had visits in the last 28 days from potential customers in the following countries. The USA , Germany , China , Spain , Canada , France , Ireland , Italy, Australia , Poland , Singapore , The Netherlands , Hungary , South Africa , Switzerland , Japan , Sweden , Hong Kong , Belgium , Norway , New Zealand , Thailand , Ukraine , Brazil , Denmark , Russia , Malaysia , Taiwan , Cyprus , Senegal , India , Korea , Slovakia , Romania , Portugal , Turkey , Iran , Finland , Egypt , Czech Republic , Austria , Georgia , Greece , Oman , Malta , Latvia , Croatia and finally Peru.

THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT

     We have been delaying completing this blog as all the information is not yet to hand. However bearing in mind the subject we will address all the information in two blogs.

We were recently asked to complete work on a very interesting table that was situated in Surrey. The table was in a property that had up until a few years ago been owned by Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees.

It appears that Mr Gibb was a very keen Snooker player and his lovely table had previously also been situated in his property in Miami. We think it was in its current position from the late 70’s.

The table itself was a very rare Orme & Sons Table in a delightful Honey Oak finish. As you might imagine the table was very heavily carved and in superb condition.

The table has an interesting story to tell , but at this point we have not clarified all the detail. Under the cushions were two stickers on every cushion. One of the stickers was for “Ashcroft” a well known Snooker manufacturer and operator in Liverpool that closed in the late 1980’s and the other was the name of a club.

The club was the “Great Barrow Billiard Club and Institute”. After a quick look at a map it appeared that there is only one Great Barrow in England which is a village a few miles to the east of Chester. We have made contact with a couple of people from the village and they confirmed that there was a billiard club in place until the 1960’s. Apparently there was considerable opposition to the table being removed at that time. However we cannot as yet confirm this was the same table. Needless to say this is a very rare and expensive antique that at one time was owned by the club. We suspect that due to the location of Great Barrow they used “Ashcroft” to repair and renovate their table over many years. The Snooker company would undoubtedly have been a keen buyer if the table was put up for sale. This of course is all conjecture and we will attempt to confirm the detail in a further blog.

Although Orme & Son worked with Oak far more than most companies we have been informed that there were only ten of these tables manufactured (we cant confirm this) and that up until now the belief was that these were all mahogany. We understand that an identical table in mahogany was owned by the ex Manchester City and Derby County footballer Francis Lee.

Once we can offer some more detailed information re the table we will add it here. I do hope the above pictures give you a taste of the incredible skill and workmanship of the Mancunian craftsmen.