We decided the living room downstairs is just about perfect for a pool table and we know Rowan and Jesse would love that. So we searched on Google and found a place about 30km away that we thought looked worth a visit so we could see and cost some options.
When we got there it was a very closed looking unit on a rather shabby industrial estate. Still, there were a couple of cars outside so we rang the bell. A woman popped her head out of a window and, when we told her what we were interested in, she opened up the gates and ushered us in. She took us into a large workshop where we could see a couple of tables at different stages of their construction. One was a table for playing Russian Pyramid and had a slate base 5cm thick.
It was pretty clear that this wasn’t the place we might buy a reasonably priced pool table, but we showed them a table on their website that we liked the look of and asked how much an 8 foot pool table would cost in that style. We agreed the measurements with the main man in the workshop. He showed us different woods and we chose ash. The two of them took us through all the details including the colour of the baize and pockets, the different sizes of cue, style of cue rack etc. For some of this they drove us to a second unit where we also saw the machines they use to cut and level the slate. The quote for our table came in at €15,000 which they then proceeded to whittle down to €10,000 providing we did not require an invoice.
They clearly make high quality billiards, snooker and pool tables for wealthy people round the world. They told us they were making 3 tables for President Macron (one for each of his houses) and showed us a crate for the Isle of Man that has been stuck there since Christmas due to BREXIT complications.
Obviously there’s no chance we’ll be buying from them, but they were delighted to show us round and we were fascinated to be shown.