Thank you everybody for your input!
I've been very busy and haven't checked the thread in a few days so just went through all the answers now.
Let me address some topics that have been brought into discussions:
1. Why I asked the question when I can do the math myself? I wanted to know people's opinion on my specific case, maybe someone had gone through the same issue in the past, would people be bothered by using a shorter cue every once in a while or would rather just go for a smaller table instead? stuff of that nature. Thank you for not being judgemental and giving me a lesson in basic arithmetic!
I used to have a small table at my parents house and some shots had to be played with a short cue. It might not come up for ages, but when it did you could guarantee it would be ridiculously annoying and almost certainly at a key point in the game! Short cues are really, really annoying and having put up with it for years I would never willingly go back, it is far more annoying than it seems!!!
2. Size of the garden cabin might not be what advertised as most manufacturers don't know what they are selling. I contacted the manufacturer and explained my intention and they assured me the internal dimensions are 520cm x 520cm (17.06ft)
You probably already know this, but make sure you have that in writing somewhere (also check there's no obstructions anywhere)!
3. Get the 7ft if you can't get the 9ft since there are tournaments for 7 or 9 but not 8. I live in London, UK not USA and here English pool is more popular and snooker. 7ft American tables are 100% non existent (I've been to 90% of the clubs in London that have American tables). All the American tables you can find in clubs are 9ft. So practicing on an 8ft would make more sense.
100%, I don't think I've ever seen a 7ft American table in the UK, as you say its either 9ft American or 7ft English (some places do have 8ft American tables, but not many, actually I even played on an 8ft English table once, but have never seen once since, although they were used I believe for the WC semi-final / final stages under EPA rules for a while, maybe they still are)!
4. Buy a bigger house/build a bigger cabin. I simply cannot. London is an incredibly expensive city for house markets and the councils here are very strict when it comes to building regulations and what you can or cannot build in your garden or adjacent to your house. Also, I know USA houses have basements usually which are quite large but here there are no such things as basements in 99.99% of the houses. So I will have to live with the space I described.
It sounds like you may have already ordered the cabin, so perhaps too late, but you have a bit of room with regards to Building Regulations, you should be able to go up to 30m2, albeit of course local councils can add on additional rules themselves. Is there perhaps any scope to go a fraction longer and narrower, you'd have a similar area, but 4.5m x 6m for example would allow you either plenty of room for an 8ft or even allow a 9ft with no (or at least not much) furniture?
I will wait for the cabin to arrive and build it and then I will measure it, maybe put some cardboard boxes to create the size of the 8ft table to get an idea how it fits. However I visited the showroom this past weekend and saw the 8 and 7ft tables. The owner there also let me hit a few balls and try out 2 shorter cues, one that was 130 cm (52 inch) and a 122cm (48 inch) both of which he will provide for free when they deliver the table (they were really basic cues something called Stinger, never heard of them, probably something they build). The 48inch one felt a little short but the 52inch one didn't bother me that much if I had to use if the ball is frozen to the rail every once in a while.
I marked out the space for an 8ft table in my cabin (which has internal measurements of 5.27m x 4.27m) and then stood around cueing to see how close I'd get in reality. As I mention above, you will find the short cues very annoying, very quickly, but depending on how tall you are you may of course not need a full size cue. I have a fairly standard 58" cue, but realistically I hold it so far down, I could probably use a 57" fine once I adjusted to it, doesn't seem like much but an extra inch can make all the difference....
Also the cabin will have a pair of French doors right in the middle of the wall that will open outwardly and if I put the table exactly in front of the doors then the only time I have an issue is when the cue ball is frozen on the rail that is opposite the door (if that makes sense). I tried to create a small scheme to understand what I mean trying to keep the scale. Since these shots will be so rare and since I think I will benefit from training on the 8ft table rather than the 7 I will probably go with that one.
I weighed this up myself and after 5 years still haven't bought anything! I was about to buy an 8ft table, but then started looking into how I could possibly extend and widen my existing cabin, then COVID got in the way and I haven't done anything about it! Lengthening seems plausible, but widening is likely to be impractical, so then I'd be in a situation where I would have enough space for a 9ft table length wise, but not width wise, which would be very annoying!!!
So in short, decide and buy a table, don't wait around, otherwise you'll have wasted years of potential playing time like me!
