Free Pool in Charlotte

Korsakoff said:
Just saw this in my Google news feed. Nine foot tables, free pool, cheap drinks and bring your own food.

Would love to see their business plan. Must be printing money. Don’t see how they’d be earning much.

Click to expand...
My first impression- good luck, but they’ll have issues to deal with giving away free pool, not having any food and allowing customers to bring in outside food.

Those furniture style tables won’t hold up for very long with patrons drinking alcohol, and it’s a little strange looking having 4 green cloth tables and 1 blue cloth table, which tells me the owner is not a pool player.

They’ll have to deal with setting limits as to how long customers can play, how much $ they’ll need to spend at the bar to continue to play free pool, and trying to keep the hustlers out, just for starters.
 
Last edited:
ChrisinNC said:
My first impression- good luck, but they’ll have issues to deal with giving away free pool, not having any food and allowing customers to bring in outside food.

Those furniture style tables won’t hold up for very long with patrons drinking alcohol, and it’s a little strange looking having 4 green cloth tables and 1 blue cloth table, which tells me the owner is not a pool player.

They’ll have to deal with setting limits as to how long customers can play, how much $ they’ll need to spend at the bar to continue to play free pool, and trying to keep the hustlers out, just for starters.
Click to expand...
Totally agree with all those observations. Thought of you when I read the article. That's why I mentioned I'd like to see their business plan. Of course, I'd bet they don't have one, or at least not a vetted one.
 
Everything I see and read says "HookUpsRUs". All that is missing is a slick blonde in her sweet red dress stretching across the table on tip-toe, atop 5 inch heels.
"Like to play a round?"

So, is there anyone here who really believes that BB and the boys are going to be allowed to hang, playing 1P for hours on end?
"Can we have three glasses of water and an ice tea?"

What would result down here would be worthy of a weekly sitcom.
 
Last edited:
Oh, and before I forget, most folks down here would want to commit a guy who proposed a place with food only and no booze. But that's here. Other folks in other places may think differently.

Me, I say different strokes for different folks. Many folks are particular and some are even downright peculiar. I've been around enough blocks to know one cannot always accurately predict what will work for another. Every once in a while you run into someone who surprises you.
 
It's a fancy-ish/hipsterish looking bar. I'd guess they even have copper glasses for moscow mules. The tables are set dressing, might not be a "serious" hall, but remember before we got obsessed with pool... remember how fun it was to go out on a date or double date and shoot some pool? I think the bar has it's place. Maybe they got a lot of square footage cheap after covid real estate sales.
 
ChrisinNC said:
My first impression- good luck, but they’ll have issues to deal with giving away free pool, not having any food and allowing customers to bring in outside food.

Those furniture style tables won’t hold up for very long with patrons drinking alcohol, and it’s a little strange looking having 4 green cloth tables and 1 blue cloth table, which tells me the owner is not a pool player.

They’ll have to deal with setting limits as to how long customers can play, how much $ they’ll need to spend at the bar to continue to play free pool, and trying to keep the hustlers out, just for starters.
Click to expand...
Elizabeth Billiards in Charlotte was a similar concept with free pool on four 8' tables, and it lasted for about 35 years until a combination of forced COVID closures + the purchase of the entire city block where it was located on Central Ave did it in. Its former location is now a huge multi-story apartment building.

They had a great in-house league, a few APA nights, and a ton of regulars. The unspoken rule of the tables was that no one could "claim" one, especially when they were all taken. If someone challenged you, you had to play, and tables often ended up with long rotations of people waiting to get a game. It was mostly bangers and casual players but there could be a handful of actual players there at any given time. Great place to mingle.
 
Biloxi Boy said:
Everything I see and read says "HookUpsRUs". All that is missing is a slick blonde in her sweet red dress stretching across the table on tip-toe, atop 5 inch heels.
"Like to play a round?"

So, is there anyone here who really believes that BB and the boys are going to be allowed to hang, playing 1P for hours on end?
"Can we have three glasses of water and an ice tea?"

What would result down here would be worthy of a weekly sitcom.
Click to expand...
I've outlasted all the other BB wannabees.

You won't like how the story ends.
 
Korsakoff said:
Totally agree with all those observations. Thought of you when I read the article. That's why I mentioned I'd like to see their business plan. Of course, I'd bet they don't have one, or at least not a vetted one.
Click to expand...
Agree.

I'd love to see it. Can you imagine the "assumptions"?

I also agree. There can't be one.
 
David in FL said:
Agree.

I'd love to see it. Can you imagine the "assumptions"?

I also agree. There can't be one.
Click to expand...
If the owner was a pool player he/she would have Diamonds or Gold Crowns and wouldn’t give it away. If he/she was a business man they’d have a food operation. This is basically a bar that will make all their $ on alcohol sales. Mixing free pool with that is just asking for issues unless it is extremely tightly run.
 
Fatboy said:
Respectfully sound like everyone here missed the obvious.

It’s a laundromat

Best
Fatboy <——-aspiring FBI agent
Click to expand...
While not that kind of laundromat, we used to have a much loved local pool hall called Clean Shot. It was a pool hall, laundromat combo that also sold food and had arcade machines.

They did good business, and it was a great place for people of all ages. After the owner passed away it got kind of shady in there, combined with some social issues in the town. Meth became a thing, big demographic changes and there were a few stabbings in the place. It was a sad deal because up until that point it was family friendly. We could go as teenagers and play pool and such. After the stabbings we didn't really want to go there and our parents didn't want us to either. After that stuff started happening it closed within a short time frame. It really was a sad deal.

The pool culture here basically died at that point. It used to be pretty huge, now we still have some pool but it's just not the same. Pool culture here was growing leaps and bounds in the 90s, then just poof, no more. We still have die hards and bar leagues but we are just lacking the two decades of players that may have gotten into the game. It's basically 40+ and some people in their early 20s and nothing in between.

One good thing, about a year ago another hall opened up. It's already on it's second owner, but it has potential. I want to talk to the owner at some point about having a junior league or something. We gotta get the pool culture back again.
 
boogieman said:
While not that kind of laundromat, we used to have a much loved local pool hall called Clean Shot. It was a pool hall, laundromat combo that also sold food and had arcade machines.

They did good business, and it was a great place for people of all ages. After the owner passed away it got kind of shady in there, combined with some social issues in the town. Meth became a thing, big demographic changes and there were a few stabbings in the place. It was a sad deal because up until that point it was family friendly. We could go as teenagers and play pool and such. After the stabbings we didn't really want to go there and our parents didn't want us to either. After that stuff started happening it closed within a short time frame. It really was a sad deal.

The pool culture here basically died at that point. It used to be pretty huge, now we still have some pool but it's just not the same. Pool culture here was growing leaps and bounds in the 90s, then just poof, no more. We still have die hards and bar leagues but we are just lacking the two decades of players that may have gotten into the game. It's basically 40+ and some people in their early 20s and nothing in between.

One good thing, about a year ago another hall opened up. It's already on it's second owner, but it has potential. I want to talk to the owner at some point about having a junior league or something. We gotta get the pool culture back again.
Click to expand...
Sadly I’ve seen pool culture die in several pool rooms over the years. Hardtimes in Sacramento bounced back from that.
 
This place will most definitely make it in that area. It looks like a neighborhood bar first, with pool tables added for the socializing scene. Look up The Dog Bar in the same area. I have a coworker who goes to Charlotte to visit his buddy who lives within walking distance and they hang out at the Dog Bar all weekend & love it. That area has been up & coming for at least the last 6 or 7 years and I seriously doubt it will be worth any hustler's time to hang out there. They are not there to be "hustled".
 
There used to be a place called Elizabeth billiards in another nearby neighborhood called plaza midwood, a couple miles away from NoDa. It was just a bar with 3 very basic tables, I think they were 7 footers, and 1 "nice" one. It was a good bar and this place might be a spiritual successor which got bulldozed for development. I played a 9ball beer league out of there and it was super fun until COVID happened and the bar never reopened I think.
 
sunburn said:
This place will most definitely make it in that area. It looks like a neighborhood bar first, with pool tables added for the socializing scene. Look up The Dog Bar in the same area. I have a coworker who goes to Charlotte to visit his buddy who lives within walking distance and they hang out at the Dog Bar all weekend & love it. That area has been up & coming for at least the last 6 or 7 years and I seriously doubt it will be worth any hustler's time to hang out there. They are not there to be "hustled".
Click to expand...
This is the right take. Young professionals will spend all day and night drinking $10 cocktails while knocking a few balls around. No serious players will bother, the patrons wouldn't play for a nickel against a C note if you spotted them the breaks and the 2 out. They might do a Monday night league or a Sunday afternoon tournament if those times are slow. I was in a similar place in Myrtle Beach a week ago at midnight on a Saturday. Place was packed. Not a soul could make a proper bridge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top