London Pool room
- Thread starter xianmacx
- Start date
Assuming you mean London, England it depends which area you will be staying in...its quite a big place!
There are some nice looking tables in hotels, but no idea how they play.
Most club tables are pretty rubbish (there are of course some exceptions).
If you know where you'll be staying I can provide some ideas (and I'm sure there are many others with better knowledge than me on here too).
Rileys Victoria is probably your best bet, very quick from South Kensington on the Underground. I haven't played there for a while, but I know there are usually a few decent players who play there, tournaments some nights and the tables are typically better than average (for a British club)!
Rileys Haymarket will probably be super busy and I'd guess far more touristy.
There are also Hurricane Room clubs in Acton and Kings Cross, not sure about the former, but the latter is generally very busy with a number of decent players practising there. They have English and American pool tables and snooker tables, they tend to fill up in that order, but you can book before 5:30.
The Sanderson hotel has a table, it looks nice, I don't know anyone thats played on it.
There are plenty of other clubs, some good, some bad, but they are a but further out.
Not that I play much these days, but I tend to play in the Hurricane Room Kings Cross or Mile End (which is actually closer to Stepney Green tube station, on the district line, easy from South Kensington, but much further than Victoria).
There are some pubs with English pool tables, but I can't think of any with American tables.
Oh there is also a pub/pool room called Southern Belle in Barons Court (again should be fairly quick from where you are), about a 10 minute walk from the station, they are all 8 footers from what I remember.
I've probably missed somewhere obvious, but I'm sure someone else will pop up with a suggestion if I have!
Not that I'm aware of!
Its quite rare for Central London hotels to have a table, I know a couple have US tables and further out of town you will find smaller hotels with English pool tables if they have an ajoining bar/pub.
If you stay in a country estate style hotel you may even find a snooker table!
It was a good table several years ago - good place to play B list celebrities for cash. I imagine it's still in good nick but as I've been banned from the place I'll never know.....
Aforementioned Riley's and Hurricanes are your best bet.
The Elbow Room
The Elbow Room (there are two in London) on Westbourne Grove (just west of central London) has I think 6 Brunswicks (not GC, but close) that play pretty good...two problems: the place fills up early and stays busy all night, so you have to get in before 5:00 pm to get a table or wait hours...plus, they put you on the clock and limit your time, based no how many are waiting. IIRC, they have a weekly open tournament with first prize a 50 GBP bar tab. The other problem is there are some folks hanging around openly smoking grass out front, some rough characters, although it's really a nice part of London. Most of the clientele are young professional business types just off work, but there is that undercurrent there...If you want any action at all, I'd go to one of the Riley's clubs...you might have to pay a membership/cover fee, not sure.
The Elbow Room (there are two in London) on Westbourne Grove (just west of central London) has I think 6 Brunswicks (not GC, but close) that play pretty good...two problems: the place fills up early and stays busy all night, so you have to get in before 5:00 pm to get a table or wait hours...plus, they put you on the clock and limit your time, based no how many are waiting. IIRC, they have a weekly open tournament with first prize a 50 GBP bar tab. The other problem is there are some folks hanging around openly smoking grass out front, some rough characters, although it's really a nice part of London. Most of the clientele are young professional business types just off work, but there is that undercurrent there...If you want any action at all, I'd go to one of the Riley's clubs...you might have to pay a membership/cover fee, not sure.
Hurricane Room house pro last time I was there was Rico Dics. Strong player and occasional co captain of the European Mosconi Cup team.