Celtic this is a review that might be of some interest, the pool club in question is called "The Billiards Rooms" and looks extreemly nice. I would love yo visit and let me know what you think?
Whether it is 8-ball, 9-ball, or a snooker game, billiards commands enough respect in some parts of the world for its players to tog out in tuxedoes for it, and it has even been included as a sport in the ASEAN Games. But in Singapore's 50 or so billiard salons, the game is played mainly for fun and it remains much in its early evolution, associated with the rough and ready in the sleazier nooks of town. However, if you are in search of a classy joint to play in, one notable, elegant exception has surfaced - The Billiard Rooms.
Located conveniently in the tourist heart of Chinatown, it's no smoky, pokey parlor. Step into it and discover neat lines of pool tables that run the length of a reconditioned shophouse block, the greens immaculate under the gentle glow of carefully set lights. The once individual shophouse units on this floor have been merged to create an expansive 9000 sq. ft. salon made inviting with niches carved out by walled-off stairwells and air wells.
It oozes colonial charm with its deep antique green and cream walls, shuttered windows and teak, Balinese-inspired furnishings. Dutch lamps, potted palm trees and 320 reprints of cheongsam-clad women, golfers of yore and old British advertisements give the place a distinctively 1920s air. The 1920s marked a peak in the popularity of billiards in England, so much that the 1923 edition of 'Hoyle's Game Modernized' described it as one of the 'great national sports'. The elegance of The Billiard Rooms is inspired by the classy Carlton Club in London, a haunt of snooker's elite.
The Billiard Rooms' colonial flavor was crafted by 48-year-old billiard guru Charles Poole while the class touch was the idea of 29-year old derivatives trader Benjamin Tan. Poole picked up the game from his father when he was 14 back home in the U.K., and has long been coach to the pros in London. He has played with snooker's elite like Steve Davis and Jimmy White in the 1980s. At that time, the 350-year-old game was riding another crest of popularity as a major television sport.
Poole was recruited as national coach to train Singapore's top snooker players for the ASEAN Games in 1986 and 1990, and it was in this capacity as a billiard coach that he met Tan. Together, their passion for the sport paved the way for The Billiard Rooms, billed as "Asia's Most Prestigious Billiard Club".
More than just a nice place to play billiards, Tan hopes that, "having a place like that will push up the level of the game here." The Billiard Rooms is "definitely one of the best in the world," says Poole, given its atmosphere, the quality of its equipment and standards of maintenance. Its 18 American pool tables and one tournament standard snooker table are brushed and ironed everyday, which Poole says, "is virtually unheard of in Singapore and Malaysia. But that is the professional standard."
For Poole, The Billiard Rooms is a second stab at a billiard club. The first one opened in Malaysia in 1995. It combined a disco with the salon. "And business was fantastic," says he - till it ran into the region's 1998 financial crisis and became a casualty.
Undaunted, Poole and Tan not only opened The Billiard Rooms in Singapore in November 2000, but are also bucking local trends in a bid to bring new respectability to the game and raise the standards of the sport. While hoping "that people will take it as a sport rather than just as a pastime," the salon is conceived as a club with a 'smart casual' dress code to deter undesirables from their doorstep.
Although The Billiard Rooms is a members club, "we welcome tourists," says Poole. Its location in Chinatown is a fortunate one for overseas travelers. Not only is it in an area that is likely on their sightseeing list, the club is a cool sanctuary stop over from the day's heat for a cold drink or a cuppa, and to soak in the colonial ambience that is such a part of Singapore's history.
For tourists and locals alike, the club is another possible venue for lunch. The yakitori - Japanese grilled chicken on a skewer - on the club's modest menu is particularly recommended.
You can relax on a teak chair by a high table and take in the street scene from the windows from the club's third-floor vantage, or watch the action on the tables. And if you care for a game, tables go for S$12 an hour and private rooms for $15.
Women will find The Billiard Rooms a particularly reassuring place to play in, given its professionalism and the gentility of the crowd. In fact, by virtue of its 18-or-older clientele and the classier yuppie crowd it draws, some may consider The Billiard Rooms an alternative place to get to know business clients, to better smooth the way to a good relationship or a deal.
The Billiard Rooms is at 20 Trengganu Street, with its entrance on Temple Street. It is open from noon to midnight. For more details, call 224 2997 or e-mail
billiardrooms@hotmail.com
Many of them are downstairs and the guys in there seemed pretty friendly when I went. Otherwise if time is short you could always pop in to the Raffles hotel bar for a singapore sling, the hotel is one of the finest in the world and named after Sir Stanely Raffles, the guy who sort of founded Singapore. Apparently the Singapore Sling was invented in the bar there. They also have a snooker room and legend has it that on pne particular occassion they shot a tiger in there many years ago. given your time frame you could probably spend a few hours in both as if I recall correctly Raffles hotel was only a short walk from the pool halls I found on Orchard road. If I find the link to the swanky place I'll post it later. Have a good trip
Despite that though the nightlife there seems it will be awesome.