OT anybody want a snooker table?

[nightjar]

As the post about the stair lift looks as though it may have solved one problem for me, I thought I'd try the other one.

I also have a 3/4 size snooker table to remove from the house (West Sussex for those who have not read my other post). This is slightly more on topic, as there is a good DIY project associated with it - building an extension large enough to house it, not to mention the problem of moving it.

The table is 9ft x 4.5ft and to play you need about 6ft clear space on both sides and on both ends. The table has a slate bed and it took four big blokes to lift in each of the three slates. It comes with both snooker and billiard balls, cues and various accessories. If anyone is interested, contact me. I am hoping to shift it quicker than I would if I have to put it on e-bay.

Colin Bignell

[g.harman]

Yours sounds if it is good condition but many years ago we had the problem of disposing of a full size one that had stood in a derelict building for some years. About the only thing worth salvaging were the slates. We found that cut down they made very good weather proof tables for garden use. Old treadle sewing machines and mangles which littered the local farm yards provided the legs. Forty five years later ours is still outside and has never been brought in and the only maintenance has been the odd coat of Hammerite or similar on the Iron work. The four others made are still around the area. They have seen several generations of manufactured garden chairs come and go.

G.Harman

[R Taylor]

don't you mean 300 million and 45 years ? :-)

RT

[nightjar]

There is a glut on the market of full size tables at the moment. Snooker has become less popular of late and many clubs have closed. I know that some tables have been sold to stone masons, just for the slate. It goes against the grain to do that to something that someone might use though.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Baker]

I'd love to have a full size snooker table if I ever got a house big enough to put one in. I used to play several days a week many years ago. I once got up to a 50 break but never really cracked the upper limits of cue ball control. Using side while potting is the tricky bit. Lessons or joining a proper club would probably have made a big difference. I think they used to be about £3k second hand but I have no idea what they are now. Any idea ?

[James Hart]

I had a customer who liked the idea of a snooker room, so built one. It was only after doing so he discovered that he doesn't actually like snooker that much, so he came to me and bought a pool table instead. Then of course he found out that it was the social side of going to the pub and playing which was more important than just whacking balls around, so he turned the whole thing into a mini gym. Last I heard that was going the same way as the snooker and pool tables.

A British Legion Club I deal with sometimes outed one of their 2 tables to replace it with soft furnishings and a big TV, apparantly it's part of a trend towards making the place more female friendly and less like god's waiting room. They paid someone to take it away in the end as they were working to a schedule and wanted the space.

[nightjar]

That was part of the reason my father bought this one. He was a keen player and a 3/4 size table is close enough to the real thing to make practicing on it worth while. I have no doubt he would have liked a full size one, but, even for the 3/4 size one, the garden shed we built was only just under the

30 sq m limit for not needing planning permission.

My local supplier told me that the 3/4 size table would be more likely to sell than a full size one in the current market, because it was more probable that a private buyer would have room for it. He reckoned that he could sell it for about £1600. However, as he would probably have to store it for a couple of years before finding a buyer, he wouldn't pay me more than a couple of hundred for it. He said that I could probably get £600-£800 by putting it in Exchange & Mart. In the event, he wasn't even interested enough to come around and look. As anything I get will go to charity, it would be nice to get as much as I can, but, realistically, I just need it out of the way and couple of hundred would still have allowed me to make some useful donations.

Colin Bignell