Pool Table

Soldato
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Hope this is correct place to post.

So I'm looking to buy a 7ft pool table for casual play and £500 is the budget. Is home and leisure direct the way to go?
 
Caporegime
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I couldn't fault https://www.pooltablesonline.co.uk

Couple of things coming from someone who bought a 6ft slate bed a year or so ago
  • You need a lot of room if you want to use a full length cue all around :)
  • If its going upstairs you might need to buy it in kit form, I bought a second hand one and the guys literally destroyed my stairway trying to get it up the stairs before giving up. Thankfully they didn't just drop it on my kerb and refunded me :p
  • If you're buying new lead time might be a while! Most places I contacted were quoting 3months+. I got lucky in that I got a customer cancellation and it only took 2 weeks.
 
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Caporegime
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Yeah likely because they're slate bed, I would assume the sub £1000 ones are some sort of wood?

You can't go wrong with a slate bed if you can stretch your budget, maybe a second hand refurb?
 
Caporegime
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Yeah likely because they're slate bed, I would assume the sub £1000 ones are some sort of wood?

You can't go wrong with a slate bed if you can stretch your budget, maybe a second hand refurb?
Anything under a grand is usually an MDF bed. The ball roll on a slate is a million times better. MDF beds just drag. They’re absolutely no good without a speed cloth, whereas slate beds can use any type. My personal preference is Simonis 861 cloth.
 
Caporegime
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Anything under a grand is usually an MDF bed. The ball roll on a slate is a million times better. MDF beds just drag. They’re absolutely no good without a speed cloth, whereas slate beds can use any type. My personal preference is Simonis 861 cloth.

Indeed, slate bed all day long for me. Pretty sure my Supreme Winner is Strachan 6811.

That being said I've recently started playing league pool again and so far almost every table has had a speed cloth, so I may get it reclothed with Simonis 861.
 
Caporegime
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Indeed, slate bed all day long for me. Pretty sure my Supreme Winner is Strachan 6811.

That being said I've recently started playing league pool again and so far almost every table has had a speed cloth, so I may get it reclothed with Simonis 861.
I don’t know about pub tables in local leagues, but pretty much every pool club table and all official competition tables use napless cloth like the 861. Normally in powder blue. 6811 is a snooker table cloth really. Many of your pub customers who play the odd frame don’t like speed cloth as it can be hard to judge pace. They usually moan about the cue ball flying all around the table :cry:
 
Caporegime
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I don’t know about pub tables in local leagues, but pretty much every pool club table and all official competition tables use napless cloth like the 861. Normally in powder blue. 6811 is a snooker table cloth really. Many of your pub customers who play the odd frame don’t like speed cloth as it can be hard to judge pace. They usually moan about the cue ball flying all around the table :cry:

Any idea on a fair price for a 6ft recloth in 861? Obviously checked online and the prices seem to vary pretty drastically. £3-400 fair?
 
Caporegime
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£300-400 is fair if it includes the cloth and is not labour only. 1 piece slate bed tables are the easiest to recover, normally only takes a couple of hours.

Managed to get it for £320 all in with a table re level which I guess they'd probably do anyway, happy with that! Super pooltablesonline again :)
 
Soldato
OP
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Caporegime
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Great stuff. A pic would be nice when all done. I’ve got a bit of a pool table fetish lol

Fitted today, brand new slate and cushions as well! Happy with the result, this thing is lightning quick. The blue and walnut aren’t the best combo, the green looked better but it’s function over style!



(Apologies for the continued thread hijack OP!
 
Man of Honour
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9 Jan 2010
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I'd love to put a pool table in my lounge, it's long enough at 23' but it's just a bit too narrow,
it's 11' wide but as it used to be two rooms there's two ~4' wide chimney breasts that stick out making it 9'10" in places,
the other thing is i live in a semi and i don't think the neighbour would enjoy it :/
 
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