Pool Hall coming soon to Lena Illinois

[KRJ]

After doing this quite a few times, I found the real work to be once your open. ''Make sure you have a professional bartender'' with personality, not one who can flip bottles and knows every drink, those guyz/gals are a dime a dozen. This person can make or break ya. Having spent thirty five years In customer service, this is an area of utmost concern. Not a tongue and cheeky person with a huge smile, but someone with ethics, hard worker and concern for all. They are hard to find, but if you look when you go out to dinner or ????? watch em and then put a bug in their ear about what ya got going on.

Oh yeah, and Good Luck, and don't forget to look BACK at your original business plan from time to time. Also, make sure you've got a way out when your going in.

Not to mention it is a big cash business, and folks can and will steal you blind if given the opportunity. This has wrecked more bars than anything else. They lose money from the over pours (which usually means a bigger tip to the bartender) or they just sell the drink and pocket the cash. Either way, the owner loses, and a big.

Plus, please sell beer at under 40 degrees Heck, try and go to 35 and advertise you got the coldest beer in town Plus, the colder the beer, the more you got out of every keg Warmer beer gives too much foam, which means too much waste !!!!

 

[Ak Guy]

Way to go and good for you. I hope your dream is a big sucess. I grew up in a small Iowa town that had two pool halls, one had with 3 cushion biliards table and one a snooker table along with the old 9" Bruinswick tables. My small town in Kenai, Alaska had a pool hall that closed last June. How I miss it. I hope you have a good and decent clientile that loves pool !

 

[Island Drive]

I was asked for more pics. Here they are.
Can't believe its been over a month since the last update. Time flies and it feels like I should have more done. The wainscot is painted and the conduit and wiring are 90% done. Spent the last weekend sanding the concrete in preparation for an epoxy coating. (dust everywhere should have done that 1st before painting) Hopefully the epoxy will be done by the coming weekend and then it will be time to start setting up tables.

Are you puttin' in a drop ceiling to minimize heating and a/c costs plus minimize echoing noises.

 

[Maxx]

whats the roof looking like? any new pics?

Here it is.....

 

[MoonshineMattK]

Weekend was productive. Floor is done. Going to give it another day to dry then start bringing in the pool tables. Thanks for all the kind words, ideas and encouragement!

Here it is.....

HaHa, it never got quite that bad fortunately

Are you puttin' in a drop ceiling to minimize heating and a/c costs plus minimize echoing noises.

I like the feeling a high ceiling gives. Its staying the way it is.

whats the roof looking like? any new pics?

Here is a pic of the way the new roof looks for ya.

 

[Island Drive]

High ceilings, I totally understand

To minimize repetitive noises, consider this, and the cost is Zero, just get some insulation or??? and put it in the corners of the ceilings, will keep the noise from bouncing around, works perfect. We've got a Starbucks with a similar ceiling in our area, perfect, looks great. I'm sure you've considered some ceiling fans?

 

[MoonshineMattK]

To minimize repetitive noises, consider this, and the cost is Zero, just get some insulation or??? and put it in the corners of the ceilings, will keep the noise from bouncing around, works perfect. We've got a Starbucks with a similar ceiling in our area, perfect, looks great. I'm sure you've considered some ceiling fans?

Noise doesnt seem too bad. The ceiling and two of the walls already have 2in foam insualtion covering them. I do need fans and A/C yet... One day at a time.

 

[galipeau]

Big Ass Fan

maybe you need one of these :grin:




But seriously, I love the idea. Buffalo billiards in California is also out of an old firehouse. It makes for a very cool theme. As long as everything is clean and your equipment is matching/consistent (coupled with great staff) your customers will find you.

Really, best of luck! I hope this place is open for a long time to come...

 

[MoonshineMattK]

 

[Island Drive]

Flooring?

Lookin' good, it's nice having those banks of ceiling lights for the cleaning and closing time if needed.
Two rooms I did, we laid carpet then tables, your obviously taking a different path. Are you gonna belly wrap metal objects that rolling balls on the floor will hit. And that center metal floor drain grid??

 

[MoonshineMattK]

To minimize repetitive noises, consider this, and the cost is Zero, just get some insulation or??? and put it in the corners of the ceilings, will keep the noise from bouncing around, works perfect. We've got a Starbucks with a similar ceiling in our area, perfect, looks great. I'm sure you've considered some ceiling fans?

I reread this a couple times and am not 100% I know what you mean as far a how the insulation would be orientated. Can you link a pic?

Lookin' good, it's nice having those banks of ceiling lights for the cleaning and closing time if needed.
Two rooms I did, we laid carpet then tables, your obviously taking a different path. Are you gonna belly wrap metal objects that rolling balls on the floor will hit. And that center metal floor drain grid??

Thanks for all the ideas. The floor drain grate is going away. I can just picture a girl putting her high heel through it and falling with unfortunate results. Hadn't thought about wrapping the support poles or the hydrant. Probably should do something to protect the balls. I didn't spend money on centennials to destroy them.

 

[bdorman]

I reread this a couple times and am not 100% I know what you mean as far a how the insulation would be orientated. Can you link a pic?

You've got a large room with high ceilings and what appears to be hard surfaces. It can get very noisy because sound actually bounces around a lot before it runs out of energy. Big space and hard surfaces keep it bouncing for a long time...and the overall noise level builds.

The good news is that it's pretty simple to reduce the noise (bouncing) at the frequency levels of pool-ball collisions (low frequency sounds - like trucks rumbling by - are much harder to reduce). Just build 3x6'x4"deep frames from 3/8" plywood, stuff it with mineral wool insulation (denser than typical home wall insulation) and cover with fabric. Leave both sides of the frame box open so sound will be absorbed from both sides.

See here for a commercial product.

The bad news is that you've got a big space and it would take lots of frames; 7-8% of wall space is a good starting point. Placement in corners of walls and wall-ceiling is usually most efficient.

With all that said, I wouldn't do anything until you're open a while and have some experience with the noise levels in the place. The trend in restaurants today is to have hard surfaces and increase the noise level -- that's why you have to shout at the person across the table. Maybe that's an atmosphere you want.

Also, it's an easy "aftermarket" project; no tearing stuff down or altering existing structure...so no hurry to do it.

 

[Dead Money]

This is turning out great! I love seeing old buildings repurposed instead of just torn down!!

 

[fastone371]

Good luck with your new pool hall. Maybe you would consider having an AZB member gathering. I am about a 1/2 north of Milwaukee but I would take a ride down for something like that. It looks like you are not too far from Byron, I am somewhat familiar with the area. When do you think you are going open up for business?:thumbup:

 

[MoonshineMattK]

Good luck with your new pool hall. Maybe you would consider having an AZB member gathering. I am about a 1/2 north of Milwaukee but I would take a ride down for something like that. It looks like you are not too far from Byron, I am somewhat familiar with the area. When do you think you are going open up for business?:thumbup:

My goal is to be open May 1st
I like your idea of an AZ member gathering. If there is interest in it I'm all for it.

 

[Island Drive]

I reread this a couple times and am not 100% I know what you mean as far a how the insulation would be orientated. Can you link a pic?




Thanks for all the ideas. The floor drain grate is going away. I can just picture a girl putting her high heel through it and falling with unfortunate results. Hadn't thought about wrapping the support poles or the hydrant. Probably should do something to protect the balls. I didn't spend money on centennials to destroy them.

I helped with a poolroom/brewery poolroom, and the wooden support beams from the 1900's on their wooden floor, had 90 degree angle irons bolted to the floor and beam/stabilizing the base of the beam, we put some base/wood moldings around em to protect balls from sharp metal edges, yours should be much simpler.
As for the echo, just up in the ceiling corners put something as simple as R30 wall insulation/for example....and you could paint it to match the ceiling color. It just keeps the same sounds from bouncing around....too much noise like this will make some people leave sooner, and they may not even know why. It could also effect your employees late on a weekend night, when they are worn out and their attitude may be slightly tweaked because of the echoing. I'm sure there are many types of baffles, I'd call a stereo/speaker type store and ask for ideas. Love the tall/dark ceilings, they work well in this type of biz. If the floor is too stay concrete, expect to replace minimum two house cues per month. When they hit the hard wood floors at the room I was in, it came down like a whip and would snap the shaft just down from the ferrule. If you've ever had a broom or mop handle hit the floor and you didn't know it was coming , you understand.

 

[grover]

wow, you added a second floor whats that gonna be?

 

[MoonshineMattK]

I helped with a poolroom/brewery poolroom, and the wooden support beams from the 1900's on their wooden floor, had 90 degree angle irons bolted to the floor and beam/stabilizing the base of the beam, we put some base/wood moldings around em to protect balls from sharp metal edges, yours should be much simpler.
As for the echo, just up in the ceiling corners put something as simple as R30 wall insulation/for example....and you could paint it to match the ceiling color. It just keeps the same sounds from bouncing around....too much noise like this will make some people leave sooner, and they may not even know why. It could also effect your employees late on a weekend night, when they are worn out and their attitude may be slightly tweaked because of the echoing. I'm sure there are many types of baffles, I'd call a stereo/speaker type store and ask for ideas. Love the tall/dark ceilings, they work well in this type of biz. If the floor is too stay concrete, expect to replace minimum two house cues per month. When they hit the hard wood floors at the room I was in, it came down like a whip and would snap the shaft just down from the ferrule. If you've ever had a broom or mop handle hit the floor and you didn't know it was coming , you understand.

Thank you. I get it now and will look into it. Sounds like a good idea.

wow, you added a second floor whats that gonna be?

When its finished thats where I'm going to live. Right now its a ways off.

 

[fastone371]

My goal is to be open May 1st
I like your idea of an AZ member gathering. If there is interest in it I'm all for it.

After you are open and settled in maybe you can put some feelers out to judge the interest. Someone here did it last Feb. in the Chicago area, I think it worked out pretty well. I was planning on going but 2 days before my PC crashed, my wife and I spent a boatload of time recovering customer billing info, I was really disappointed that I missed it.

 

[grover]

can you post mere pics please?