Pool Tables from Pool Table Online

UK Slate Bed Pool Tables

Our company is dedicated to the distribution of UK Slate Bed Pool Tables.

We are based just outside Manchester and have been involved in the pool table industry for over 50 years.

We now purely distribute pool tables, but until a few years ago, we also manufactured UK Slate Bed Pool Tables.

Two companies, Hazel Grove Music and Alca Electronics, first produced slate bed pool tables in Stockport and Oldham in the UK. This encouraged other North West-based pool table manufacturers to start producing pool tables, which continues to this day.

Millions of people play pool at home, in pubs and in clubs up and down the country, but when and how did pool become so popular in the UK?

Our Pool Table History.

Well, let's go back to the beginning. We know because we were there, and we have been involved in the selling and making of UK Slate Bed Pool Tables for home and commercial use since 1969.

The game of pool was invented and established in the USA decades ago, but surprisingly, it only became popular in the UK in the late 1960s. Pool first entered Europe in the fifties through American military bases stationed overseas.

Many US forces were based in Germany and had pool tables in mess rooms, and still today, Germany has a great player base, from grass-roots players to professionals. At the same time, Snooker was the big game in the UK for cue sports players.

In 1968, some enterprising coin machine operators saw an opportunity and started importing American coin-operated tables and installing them in pubs with enough space. Famous names such as Brunswick, US Billiards, and Ebonite burst onto the scene and captured the imagination of the pub players.

The American coin-operated game is played with 2-1/4 inch object balls (i.e., spots and stripes numbered 1 to 15) and a slightly larger cue ball at 2-3/8 inch. However, some tables have the same size cue ball with magnets inserted to separate it and return it to the player after a foul shot rather than keeping it on the table like the object balls.

UK slate bed pool tables for the home have cue balls of the same size as object balls, as all the balls are always available. The pockets are also bigger on American Pool tables, and two balls can pass side by side into a pocket, making it an excellent potting game. The other feature of the USA pool table was the napless speed cloth, which made for a speedy game in the early days.

Pool in the UK Pub.

Although the American pool game was popular in pubs, two things held it back: first, the tables were very big and could not physically fit into many of the smaller pubs, and second, the UK player, having been brought up watching and playing Snooker, wanted more of a tactical game rather than pure potting.

About this time, a French company called Rene Pierre started selling a smaller ball pool that, instead of having pockets as we know them today, had holes in the playing surface with a ring surround, a bit like a bagatelle table.

These tables were a great success as they introduced a new skill element, but they were not the complete answer. So, in 1973, a coin-operated pool table was produced in the UK with a ball-to-pocket ratio of Snooker and proper pockets, and that style has stood the test of time to this day.

The slate bed playing surface had a smaller ball set than the American pool tables. It was covered in a wool-napped cloth, giving the average player more control of the cue ball. This type of cloth still outsells the napless variety, although some players prefer the faster napless cloth (speed cloth).

The pool balls for the UK coin tables are 2-inch object balls with a 1-7/8 inch cue ball. This allows the cue ball to fall through a trap door and return to the player after a foul shot, although all balls are locked in at the end of the game when all fifteen object balls have been potted. The pockets are smaller and are only the width of one-and-a-half object balls, hence the extra skill required.

English Pool Tables.

A new breed of pool table was born, and to this day, it is the most popular game in the UK and Ireland. It is also popular in France, Spain, Malta and Morocco.

Throughout the rest of the world, the American pool game still dominates, but whatever the size of the pool table or pool balls, the game goes from strength to strength and will be with us for many years.

So there you have it. We are still here and going strong, so if you have any questions, we will do our best to answer them. Please see our FAQ section.