Top 147 Snooker

Woohoo, another 1^st review~
So I was introduced to this place by a buddy who’s an avid snooker (not «boring» 8-​ball, as he says) fan/​player. How avid? He owns a $ 1000 custom-​made pool cue, and competes in the local tournaments. So if he says this place has the best tables out of all the local halls, I’ll take his word for it.
The place is a converted warehouse (like most other Richmond pool halls), with some posters to break (no pun intended) the emptiness of the walls.
So, what’s great about this place?
1) Not too many people know about it. Getting a table is never a problem. Fridays + Saturdays can get busy though.
2) Free parking around the building.
3) The rates actually depend on the QUALITY of the felt. What that means, for example, is that a table with known «bad» felt costs less to rent than one with «newer» felt. So if you’re a crappy player like myself, you can save a few bucks. With that said, they recently redid the felt on all of their tables (Nov 2010), so I’m not sure if this scheme is still in place. This isn’t BS either. One time my friend had me try 2 tables (one «cheap», one «expensive») to see for myself. He wasn’t lying. When playing on the expensive table, the balls behave more «ideally» (ie closer to what you’d expect if you’ve taken a Math 12 Provincial Exam).
4) There’s a lounge area next to the counter. Not sure if they serve food or drinks there (I’d imagine they do), but one of your friends wants to sit out, they can in comfort. There are TVs in this area too, usually showing. footage from snooker tournaments. Hardcore.
5) They offer additional services, such as retipping your cue. My friend uses other services for his cues as well, but I have no idea what he asks for. You’d have to be a pool shark to ask for these specialized services.
6) Each table (for the snooker ones at least) have an electronic scoreboard, so you’re not stuck dealing with those lame sliders like every other place I’ve been to around Richmond. Makes it WAY easier to keep track of points.
You’re not coming in here for the décor, but if you want an excellent pool /​snooker venue, this is it.

I’ve been coming here for the past 4 or 5 yrs & this is one of the few places locally I would play & practice snooker. The snooker tables all had new cloth installed in Nov after a recent renovation & they play great. They appear to be Riley tables but rumored to be made in China knock offs & the cushions are very responsive. The table accessories are in very good shape. Tables 1 to 5 are supposed to be Riley Aristocrats with the steel block cushions while 6 to 10 are probably Renaissances with standard wood backed cushions. The lighting assemblies above the snooker tables are imported from China & the best performing fixtures in town for snooker. They do a pretty good job of mitigating ball shadows. The snooker tables are brushed & ironed regularly to play at an optimum level. Recently a whole bunch of new house cues for snooker were added to replace older cues. These are pretty good quality for house cues. Snooker balls are likely Tournament Champion. On the downside they tend to let the cloths get pretty worn before replacing while the table surface markings fade from use & brushing & they are not redone often enough.
3 flat screen TVs thru out the place usually have some pro snooker footage playing & adds a nice touch to the atmosphere. The club is clean & spacious. Better to play before 6 when the background music seems lower volume. A bit noisy from the music at nite.
Although the place originally catered to the hard core snooker players under the previous mgmt, the place now features 10 decent quality American sized pool tables that feature a ball return mechanism at the expense of removing 6 snooker tables a couple yrs ago.
The club offers 2 membership levels for discounted rates & some other features. The rates are printed on a grid at the counter & vary depending on table number & time of day & membership or not. Discounted rates are reasonable for the quality of table they offer. They also sell a range of cues & cases along with some other accessories.
Players of all skill level are welcome so it’s worth coming down whatever game they play.