Johnny Archer's New Room

as can be seen two thirds your gross is other than table time. take note pool room owners and wanna be owners.
 
Pierre Shakes said:
Peacock Billiards in Victoria, BC, Canada is very successful with 1/12’ snooker, 1/10’ pool, 3/7’s, 1/os8’, and eighteen 9’s. For years we had 9/8’s and 13/9’s, then one day I checked the usage for the last two years. At the top were all the 9’s, followed by the 10’s and 12’s, the 8’s were all the least used.

I had always presumed that non-players would rationally choose the tables that were easier. But being 10% harder doesn’t matter to them, they don’t expect to make that many shots anyway The larger table gives them more real estate for their rental buck. And all styles look better when larger. Actual players were glad to have more 9’s, of course.

Serious players are not a serious part of the revenue, of course, plus they are fussy and demanding. Nonetheless I chose high end and technical tables and cloth, more for myself and my general luxury-loving public than for the serious. But, irritatingly, the tables are not all the same model with the same colour and kind of cloth.

I do have two Diamonds - 7’ oak Professional and 7’ black ProAm - and have probably the only three Unik tables in play in North America, one red, one blue, and one gold to match Simonis cloth colours. KSteel by Sam in Spain, Rasson's Victory and Ox, Olhausen's Hampton and Cavalier, 9' Eclipse and 10’ Arcade by Brunswick, four misc Chinese, Peter Vitalie’s Lord Nelson, Lenox and Bordeaux by World of Leisure, Aspen in walnut and Franciscan Mission in oak by Connelly.
The 12’ is B&W from 1926 with a 12’ Magnum by Rasson on the way (with their unbeatable slate levelling system).

To fill out this costly dog’s breakfast are two tables I made myself at the beginning in 1981when I thought custom hand-made pool tables were my business. But I opened in the first month of the 1981 recession - do you remember 19%-21% interest rates? - selling big ticket items. My first table had a child’s playhouse underneath in solid teak in the architectural style of Greene and Greene. Then art deco style in maple and cherry with gold leaf details and jade lozenges for diamonds. Becoming a poolhall saved the business, but I still wanted different luxury tables to sell from. So variety became my theme. And I love colour so - though you will really hate me now - I have eighteen different colours of cloth right now.

But all this works great for casual players and dates; they definitely have favourite tables based on aesthetics. Leather couches are a factor as well as the 8’x10’ painstaking murals on the walls. The bar and restaurant are drenched in the words of James Joyce as painted on the bar, tables and walls. And otherwise very comfortable. We are very busy and we charge $24cdn ($19us) weekend evenings for four players. The revenue mix is bar 44%; table time 34% (but no food/drink cost); food 16%; table cue etc sales & service work 6%.

The variety theme can be done on a shoestring by buying used furniture tables for 15% the cost of a Diamond, using various colours of cloth - it is very cheerful - and hiring high school artists to re-create large vanGough and Gauguin paintings.
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Your place is nice. The food especially!! Good luck to you!

peacockbilliards.com

Peacock Billiards & The James Joyce Bistro

peacockbilliards.com peacockbilliards.com

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Peacock Billiards | Victoria BC

Peacock Billiards, Victoria, British Columbia. 1,288 likes · 12 talking about this · 6,380 were here. Peacock Billiards is an all ages destination for a night out or a day trip in downtown Victoria.
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Dead Money said:
Your place is nice. The food especially!!

www.facebook.com

Peacock Billiards | Victoria BC

Peacock Billiards, Victoria, British Columbia. 1,288 likes · 12 talking about this · 6,380 were here. Peacock Billiards is an all ages destination for a night out or a day trip in downtown Victoria.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
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Man you got that right! I'm sure it isn't the only place, but I've been to a lot of pool rooms around the country over the years and I have never seen food like that in a pool hall. And a large section of their menu changes weekly on top of it. Sure looks good.
 
Floyd_M said:
SOMEDAY SOON I'll introduce my 3-Cushion game for pocket tables.
Game is played very similar but the special rules makes it more challenging and entertaining. I showed it to one of Ray Ceuleman's sons a decade ago, he said it wasn't pure to Caroms. I looked at him and said, 'There's always new ways to play anything. One never know if it it'll catch on. Besides, this game can introduce more players to 3 Cushion Billiards'. He just turned & walked away to talked to Ray Schuler. But his buddy Ivan loved it.

I also have another game called (currently) ''Red Neck 8-Ball''. Again played similar but a couple rules makes it much more challenging than regular 8-Ball. It's one game that can be played singles, partners even Scotch Doubles. This one I dreamed up way back in the early 1970s but since regular game rules ruled no one wanted to play it.

EH... someday.
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I love making up new games. I came up with pocket carom that turns out was very similar to caroms. 2-pocket, 3 pocket, half court. It just makes you think differently.
 
Pierre Shakes said:
Peacock Billiards in Victoria, BC, Canada is very successful with 1/12’ snooker, 1/10’ pool, 3/7’s, 1/os8’, and eighteen 9’s. For years we had 9/8’s and 13/9’s, then one day I checked the usage for the last two years. At the top were all the 9’s, followed by the 10’s and 12’s, the 8’s were all the least used.

I had always presumed that non-players would rationally choose the tables that were easier. But being 10% harder doesn’t matter to them, they don’t expect to make that many shots anyway The larger table gives them more real estate for their rental buck. And all styles look better when larger. Actual players were glad to have more 9’s, of course.

Serious players are not a serious part of the revenue, of course, plus they are fussy and demanding. Nonetheless I chose high end and technical tables and cloth, more for myself and my general luxury-loving public than for the serious. But, irritatingly, the tables are not all the same model with the same colour and kind of cloth.

I do have two Diamonds - 7’ oak Professional and 7’ black ProAm - and have probably the only three Unik tables in play in North America, one red, one blue, and one gold to match Simonis cloth colours. KSteel by Sam in Spain, Rasson's Victory and Ox, Olhausen's Hampton and Cavalier, 9' Eclipse and 10’ Arcade by Brunswick, four misc Chinese, Peter Vitalie’s Lord Nelson, Lenox and Bordeaux by World of Leisure, Aspen in walnut and Franciscan Mission in oak by Connelly.
The 12’ is B&W from 1926 with a 12’ Magnum by Rasson on the way (with their unbeatable slate levelling system).

To fill out this costly dog’s breakfast are two tables I made myself at the beginning in 1981when I thought custom hand-made pool tables were my business. But I opened in the first month of the 1981 recession - do you remember 19%-21% interest rates? - selling big ticket items. My first table had a child’s playhouse underneath in solid teak in the architectural style of Greene and Greene. Then art deco style in maple and cherry with gold leaf details and jade lozenges for diamonds. Becoming a poolhall saved the business, but I still wanted different luxury tables to sell from. So variety became my theme. And I love colour so - though you will really hate me now - I have eighteen different colours of cloth right now.

But all this works great for casual players and dates; they definitely have favourite tables based on aesthetics. Leather couches are a factor as well as the 8’x10’ painstaking murals on the walls. The bar and restaurant are drenched in the words of James Joyce as painted on the bar, tables and walls. And otherwise very comfortable. We are very busy and we charge $24cdn ($19us) weekend evenings for four players. The revenue mix is bar 44%; table time 34% (but no food/drink cost); food 16%; table cue etc sales & service work 6%.

The variety theme can be done on a shoestring by buying used furniture tables for 15% the cost of a Diamond, using various colours of cloth - it is very cheerful - and hiring high school artists to re-create large vanGough and Gauguin paintings.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a wonderful place!
 
maha said:
unfortunately as we age we see that times change.

out with the old in with the new. that's how the world works.
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Yes it has all changed, the game of baseball is so different that I almost can't relate anymore to a nine inning pro game - no strategy, no bunting, no base stealing, no complete games pitched, defensive shifting, 4 or 5 relief pitchers a game, no clutch base hits- just waiting for a HR, 15 strikeouts every game, barely a .300 average player in site, guys who, in size resemble football players- a strength not a skill game- dreadlocks, beards, gold chains, HR dances, 4 hour games- I remember most at just over 2 hours. No more daytime World Series games, now start a 8PM and end at midnight- maybe! The game, to me, is now a disaster - and since expansion started many years ago- a league littered with millionaire salaried guys who would never have been in the major leagues prior to expansion above 10 teams per league.

I remember attending a World Straight Pool championship event in NYC- late 70s to early 80s. It was held in a classic NYC Hotel Ballroom, the players all wore a tux. Everything was elegance and class- at least in appearance. Now we are at the point to holding it in a pool room where the guys wear polo shirts with logos.

Yes, I agree, as we age times sure do change, old and new- better or worse- each can judge for themselves, not fighting it, just observing it

:) Glad that I had at least a taste of the glorious past.
 
mikemosconi said:
Yes it has all changed, the game of baseball is so different that I almost can't relate anymore to a nine inning pro game - no strategy, no bunting, no base stealing, no complete games pitched, defensive shifting, 4 or 5 relief pitchers a game, no clutch base hits- just waiting for a HR, 15 strikeouts every game, barely a .300 average player in site, guys who, in size resemble football players- a strength not a skill game- dreadlocks, beards, gold chains, HR dances, 4 hour games- I remember most at just over 2 hours. No more daytime World Series games, now start a 8PM and end at midnight- maybe! The game, to me, is now a disaster - and since expansion started many years ago- a league littered with millionaire salaried guys who would never have been in the major leagues prior to expansion above 10 teams per league.

I remember attending a World Straight Pool championship event in NYC- late 70s to early 80s. It was held in a classic NYC Hotel Ballroom, the players all wore a tux. Everything was elegance and class- at least in appearance. Now we are at the point to holding it in a pool room where the guys wear polo shirts with logos.

Yes, I agree, as we age times sure do change, old and new- better or worse- each can judge for themselves, not fighting it, just observing it

:) Glad that I had at least a taste of the glorious past.
Click to expand...
Everything changes……it’s just how the world turns……but it’s not always for the better.
 
Pierre Shakes said:
Peacock Billiards in Victoria, BC, Canada is very successful with 1/12’ snooker, 1/10’ pool, 3/7’s, 1/os8’, and eighteen 9’s. For years we had 9/8’s and 13/9’s, then one day I checked the usage for the last two years. At the top were all the 9’s, followed by the 10’s and 12’s, the 8’s were all the least used.

I had always presumed that non-players would rationally choose the tables that were easier. But being 10% harder doesn’t matter to them, they don’t expect to make that many shots anyway The larger table gives them more real estate for their rental buck. And all styles look better when larger. Actual players were glad to have more 9’s, of course.

Serious players are not a serious part of the revenue, of course, plus they are fussy and demanding. Nonetheless I chose high end and technical tables and cloth, more for myself and my general luxury-loving public than for the serious. But, irritatingly, the tables are not all the same model with the same colour and kind of cloth.

I do have two Diamonds - 7’ oak Professional and 7’ black ProAm - and have probably the only three Unik tables in play in North America, one red, one blue, and one gold to match Simonis cloth colours. KSteel by Sam in Spain, Rasson's Victory and Ox, Olhausen's Hampton and Cavalier, 9' Eclipse and 10’ Arcade by Brunswick, four misc Chinese, Peter Vitalie’s Lord Nelson, Lenox and Bordeaux by World of Leisure, Aspen in walnut and Franciscan Mission in oak by Connelly.
The 12’ is B&W from 1926 with a 12’ Magnum by Rasson on the way (with their unbeatable slate levelling system).

To fill out this costly dog’s breakfast are two tables I made myself at the beginning in 1981when I thought custom hand-made pool tables were my business. But I opened in the first month of the 1981 recession - do you remember 19%-21% interest rates? - selling big ticket items. My first table had a child’s playhouse underneath in solid teak in the architectural style of Greene and Greene. Then art deco style in maple and cherry with gold leaf details and jade lozenges for diamonds. Becoming a poolhall saved the business, but I still wanted different luxury tables to sell from. So variety became my theme. And I love colour so - though you will really hate me now - I have eighteen different colours of cloth right now.

But all this works great for casual players and dates; they definitely have favourite tables based on aesthetics. Leather couches are a factor as well as the 8’x10’ painstaking murals on the walls. The bar and restaurant are drenched in the words of James Joyce as painted on the bar, tables and walls. And otherwise very comfortable. We are very busy and we charge $24cdn ($19us) weekend evenings for four players. The revenue mix is bar 44%; table time 34% (but no food/drink cost); food 16%; table cue etc sales & service work 6%.

The variety theme can be done on a shoestring by buying used furniture tables for 15% the cost of a Diamond, using various colours of cloth - it is very cheerful - and hiring high school artists to re-create large vanGough and Gauguin paintings.
Click to expand...
Forty years and still going strong! Good job sir! I love what you've done there and your variety theme. The only other place I know of like this is Buffalo Billiards in Petaluma, CA. Also going strong after over thirty years. Some menu you've got there, like a real high end restaurant. Sorry I missed you the one time I was in Victoria. Butchart Gardens was amazing! I won't miss you if I go back! ;)
 
yea i gave up watching all sports. even the pool is gotten to slow play. things need action to keep interest or a challenging theme so a person can stay interested. along with players you can relate to in some way.
so as the world changes with youth i have to adjust, but can complain about it. yelling at the clouds helps.
 
Dead Money said:
They are actually pretty crazy looking---almost like a transformer table. I think it would fun to play on for sure.
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The looks are fabulous, but the function is all there, too. 2,000 pounds for a 9' table! Slate is 1 and 5/8" thick and weighs about 1200# vs 700# for 1". The legs/frame/whatever is 650# of steel supporting the slate and the giant pieces go together with a click. Took 5 minutes to level the slate and it has not gone out of level 1/500th of an inch per foot (one gradation on a Starlet mechanic's level) in three years with the public playing on it. This is true of my two Rasson tables as well.

Originally they were only black and red with red cloth. Red has special meaning for the Chinese, but not the favourite colour of cloth for players (and yet it is always busy). Four days after setting up my first one I ordered two more, IF they would make them to match Simonis royal blue and Simonis gold. I could hear them scratching their heads from the other side of the world. I explained that westerners like to personalize things, perhaps to go with the colour scheme of the room.

I advised them to take two Unik tables to the Los Vegas trade show; one to play on and one partially set up to show the steel construction with a piece of slate loose at one end. I predicted that everyone would lift one end of that slate to get the heft, and I was right. They took three tables: red, blue, and gold. Sure enough everybody preferred the blue, so they changed their advertising.

They cost less than 9' Diamonds which do go out of level.
 
I went there again last night and the place was packed. We got the only table open and got a hamburger and fries. If all their food is as good as their hamburger they have a winner with the food side of things. They had karioke which I usually dont care for, but they didn't have it so loud like many other places do. You could still carry on a conversation. No inside smoking so I dont have to come home and change clothes. Johnny and Rodney were both there again, so you have two hands on champion players that are there regularly. I really think this room has a formula for success.
 
I'm 66 and played on some real horrible tables back in Socal growing up in the 60s 70s 80s 90s. Slow cloth, buckets for pockets poor sports etc. The equipment and players are better now. Fargo Rating has spawned crazy uptick in tournaments & business here in PDX. I practice on a 9ft Diamond when covid allows. But 7ft is where the business is. Scoffing at 7footers is popular. But try running out elegantly on one. There is a reason Pro's study the 7 ft table longer after breaking.
 
Pierre Shakes said:
Peacock Billiards in Victoria, BC, Canada is very successful with 1/12’ snooker, 1/10’ pool, 3/7’s, 1/os8’, and eighteen 9’s. For years we had 9/8’s and 13/9’s, then one day I checked the usage for the last two years. At the top were all the 9’s, followed by the 10’s and 12’s, the 8’s were all the least used.

I had always presumed that non-players would rationally choose the tables that were easier. But being 10% harder doesn’t matter to them, they don’t expect to make that many shots anyway The larger table gives them more real estate for their rental buck. And all styles look better when larger. Actual players were glad to have more 9’s, of course.

Serious players are not a serious part of the revenue, of course, plus they are fussy and demanding. Nonetheless I chose high end and technical tables and cloth, more for myself and my general luxury-loving public than for the serious. But, irritatingly, the tables are not all the same model with the same colour and kind of cloth.

I do have two Diamonds - 7’ oak Professional and 7’ black ProAm - and have probably the only three Unik tables in play in North America, one red, one blue, and one gold to match Simonis cloth colours. KSteel by Sam in Spain, Rasson's Victory and Ox, Olhausen's Hampton and Cavalier, 9' Eclipse and 10’ Arcade by Brunswick, four misc Chinese, Peter Vitalie’s Lord Nelson, Lenox and Bordeaux by World of Leisure, Aspen in walnut and Franciscan Mission in oak by Connelly.
The 12’ is B&W from 1926 with a 12’ Magnum by Rasson on the way (with their unbeatable slate levelling system).

To fill out this costly dog’s breakfast are two tables I made myself at the beginning in 1981when I thought custom hand-made pool tables were my business. But I opened in the first month of the 1981 recession - do you remember 19%-21% interest rates? - selling big ticket items. My first table had a child’s playhouse underneath in solid teak in the architectural style of Greene and Greene. Then art deco style in maple and cherry with gold leaf details and jade lozenges for diamonds. Becoming a poolhall saved the business, but I still wanted different luxury tables to sell from. So variety became my theme. And I love colour so - though you will really hate me now - I have eighteen different colours of cloth right now.

But all this works great for casual players and dates; they definitely have favourite tables based on aesthetics. Leather couches are a factor as well as the 8’x10’ painstaking murals on the walls. The bar and restaurant are drenched in the words of James Joyce as painted on the bar, tables and walls. And otherwise very comfortable. We are very busy and we charge $24cdn ($19us) weekend evenings for four players. The revenue mix is bar 44%; table time 34% (but no food/drink cost); food 16%; table cue etc sales & service work 6%.

The variety theme can be done on a shoestring by buying used furniture tables for 15% the cost of a Diamond, using various colours of cloth - it is very cheerful - and hiring high school artists to re-create large vanGough and Gauguin paintings.
Click to expand...
I live in Ontario, but was considering moving a few years back. I was looking at real estate and tried to find something near a pool hall. Peacocks has been on my list of places go since i found it back then. One of these days i will get out there. Would love to retire in the BC interior.

Glad to hear it is doing well. It is on my bucket list of places to hang out in.
 
Positively Ralf said:
I think people need to quit whining about this 7 foot table nonsense. Whether you like it or not, those league players help the places stay open more so than the aspiring pro player/shortstop/A level player.

Besides, if the place has 3 9 footers, whats the problem? If the days of 9 footers is really dead an all everyone wants to play on is 7 footers, then you should have no problem getting on the 9 footer to practice or play your friends.
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How you gonna host a big table tournament with three 9 footers?

Barboxes are toys. They don't test players and they don't make players.
 
Last edited:
SBC said:
How you gonna host a big table tournament with 9 footers?

Barboxes are toys. They don't test players and they don't make players.
Click to expand...
I like 9fts too but in some parts of this country bb's rule. Shooter's in Olathe, Ks. has been holding 128man, 40G's+ Calcutta events twice a yr for 20yrs. Only covid stopped them. Lot of events in the Midwest and South on bb's that pay-out really good. A LARGE portion of these players play 95%+ of their pool on small tables and don't really care about 9ft pool at all.
 
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