I owe a debt of gratitude to Peter Ainsworth Vice Chairman of the English Association of Snooker and Billiards. Apart from Peter’s role in the Association he has a very keen interest in the history of the business. During a conversation that we recently had , Peter was able to provide us with some information about the history of our business that we had upto date been unable to confirm.

We were aware that Elston and Hopkin became a partnership in 1938. We understood that Mr Elston had been a well known Billiards scorer but little else was known about John Hopkin Seniors partner.

What we now know is that as we suspected we have a direct link back to John Gent Nottingham’s only Billiard Table maker. John Gent manufactured table’s in the Nottingham area from circa 1890 and maybe earlier. He made a considerable amount of 3/4 size table’s for Public Houses but we are still aware of his table’s in use in clubs and we removed one ourselves from Hucknall Police Station (with their permission of course) a couple of years ago.

But we could never find the missing link between the companies until now even though we had been told the companies were associated from a few sources who could not provide any documentary evidence to support it. It appears that in 1905 John Gent (of Convent Street) provided a table for a Billiards match between an F.Lawrence and a A.E. Williams. We think this may well have been in Mr Hopkins Billiard Hall in Hyson Green. In 1908 he supplied the table for the Nottingham Amateur Championship held at The Burnaby Hall Selhurst Street Nottingham (Mr Elston’s Billiard Hall). He did the same again in 1909 at exactly the same premises and this assists us in our search as we could never identify excatly when Gent finished. However to further cement what occured we now know that John Gent’s business was due to his demise put up for sale in 1925. The business was advertised in a Billiards magazine as follows - For Sale as a going concern , the business of a billiard table maker carried on by the late Mr John Gent at Hollyholme Cinder Hill Nottingham. All at valuation - Apply Hind & Godfrey 15 Long Row Nottingham. 

What we could never be sure of until now is that John Elston was an employee of John Gent in 1920 , five year’s prior to his death. John Gent actually passed away on November 4th 1924 and he was clearly a man with a moral outlook on life. He left an estate of £10,257 with a net of £8,731. He left £500 to The Nottingham Childrens hospital , The Derbyshire Royal Infirmiary and The Nottingham General Hospital. Now what we know is that John Elston either bought the business from the Executor of the will or was given the business to run himself. We are aware that a number of table’s carried the plaque “Elston’s Premier Match Cushion of Broad Street ” prior to the merger.We also know that he advertised in 1936 as a supplier “of all Billiard Hall Requirements” and was based at 16B Goldsmith Street Nottingham. In 1938 Elston and Hopkin decided that they would be stronger as a partnership and the rest as they say is “well documented history”.

This is an invaluable aid to us putting together information about the history of our business and indeed the business of “Billiards” in Nottingham. John Gent was not as famous as some of his contemporaries or indeed ran as large a business. However his tables are still being played on today and the quality of the manufacturing was first class. We are proud to be associated with him. The picture below is one we were given by John Hopkin Junior and shows his father inspecting one of his fitters work in one of his billiard halls. I would bet my bottom dollar that it’s a John Gent table he is working on.

We have just supplied 10 Sam Bison American Pool tables to a large leisure company in the UK. As is always the case this has necessitated deliveries in London , the Midlands and the North West of England. We are able to supply a variety of used American Pool Tables in significant numbers if required. As part of this deal we have had to move some equipment for the customer as well and this meant that we needed to stay in or around Manchester.

We always prefer to avoid towns if possible and we are delighted to report we have found another gem of a small business for you. I should add that one of our competitors is so enthused about our accomodation reports that he logs in especially - (don’t you Peter !). If you want to stay in the Cheshire moorlands try the wonderful Harrop Fold Farm www.harropfoldfarm.co.uk near Macclesfield. This business has won loads of awards such as Cheshire B&B of the year 2006 , Cheshire Tourism Experience of the Year 2007 , English North West Tourism Highly Commended 2007 ,Trinity Mirror Annual Award 2008. etc etc.  Do you pay £75 as per your average Travel Inn - No. At £50 per head it was outstanding both in terms of the accomodation on offer and the location. Mind you we did sew up the nick on their Pool Table which had seen better days. here’s hoping we get the job of renewing it at some stage !

In the evening we visited a local Pub which we found out was a Punch Taverns outlet. We had an interesting conversation about the amount of money the Lessee paid Sceptre Leisure (previously Crown Leisure) for their Pool Table which was a badly maintained 6 x 3 Mayfair which had clearly had a very hard life. I was absolutely staggered by the rental and the fact that the landlady claimed that she also had to pay a proportion of the take to the machine company. Whether this was true or not I cannot confirm.

One thing for absolutely certain is that Tenant’s and Lessee’s are currently having a very difficult time due to the economic climate and the effects of the smoking ban. However one of the greatest rip off’s the publican’s have had to endure is the effect of a tie on machine supply. The Pub Co’s have dressed this up by suggesting that the Machine Manager’s are able to provide in depth knowledge leading to better machine management and thus improved revenues. In truth there is no in depth knowledge required for a Pub Pool Table.  It is all about Price , Condition and Service , the benefit has been gained by the Pub co who get a significant kick back from the supplier to be a nominated supplier - none of that benefit is ever given to the long suffering Tenant or Lessee. The Lessee have their hands tied as their only choice is to have the pool table removed from the premises. How on earth can a Pub company justify this situation as being in the best interest of the Tenant/Lessee. We could have sold a mint condition slightly used table for 80% of their total rental and they could have kept all the cash.

Anyday now there will be an announcement from Inspired Gaming Group (Leisurelink) stating that they are pulling out of the Pub machine supply business altogether. They regard this business as being unprofitable. This will further reduce the competition in this market as it is more than likely that one of either Gamestec or Sceptre will no doubt secure this business. This will further reduce the options available to Licencee’s when choosing supplier’s. The truth is that in many cases the quality of supply from these large companies is very poor and they would be dropped like a stone if proper competition was allowed.

The government are in the process of reviewing via an enquiry by the “Business and Enterprise Committee” the effect of the Beer tie on Tenanted and Leased Pubs.  I suggest they look carefully at the machine tie which has resulted in a significant reduction in revenues to all Licensee’s over a number of years. The reason being that a large amount of the revenue has to be split with the property owner or Pubco. There was a time when the machine revenue was a real bonus to the Landlord. The benefit of this income stream has been entirely diluted. Can you imagine if the Pubco tried to cream off some income from catering and the furore it would create. The truth is that machine income is no different and yet has been treated entirely differently. You have to ask the question as to why it has ever been tolerated or allowed to occur !

If the “Business and Enterprise Committee” want to do something worthwhile then I suggest they look at this area in great detail. Going forward , an increase in the choices of supplier for equipment and the ability to retain all the income in their outlets might just keep some of these pubs open.

Oh How we love this stuff !

Its the silly season again , but with the “Tate Modern” the seasons all become a blur.

It was reported last autumn that the much esteemed “Tate” had paid £152,000 for an unusually shaped billiards table with no pockets. It turns out that the artwork known as “Carambole with Pendulum” was created by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco in 1996 - he is quoted as saying  ”The shape and lack of pockets deny the traditional function of a games table while drawing attention to its visual qualities” This artwork features a red ball hanging from the ceiling.

At £152,000 Mexico clearly still hasn’t got rid of all its Bandits - at least Dick Turpin had the good manners to wear a mask !

 There is not a lot known about Messr’s Turner & Price  but it appears they suffered a similar fate to a number of us in business today. We know that in 1876 they were operating from The Strand. They advertised themselves as suppliers to the Royal Family , The Admiralty and The War Office. It seems a lot of suppliers were able to make this claim at that time. It appears that although their showroom was at The Strand their manufacturing base was at Surrey Billiard Works , The Steam Works , 45 Clapham Road , London .

The following crime was reported in 1877  ”About 8 o clock on Saturday evening our premises , 367  The Strand were forcibly entered and some 40-50 Ivory billiard balls stolen from the shop window. The shutters were not closed and the window was well lit with gas at the time , so that the thieves could easily have been seen by the passers-by , of whom there are not a few at this time of the evening. The attendant had only left the place for a few moments and on his return found the door wrenched open and the bolt of the lock completely doubled up. We of course , at once communicated with the Police , but upto the present time have no clue to the thieves.

It may have been 131 years ago that this crime occurred - but the last sentence proves that some things never change !