American pool: Pocket profits

American pool tables are all the rage and could be just what your pub needs.

There's a new American revolution under way on Britain's high streets - an American pool revolution. While 95 per cent of pub pool is played on English tables, a growing number of destination venues are choosing the American alternative - a table with bigger, wide-mouthed pockets and bigger balls that are easier pot.

This opens the game up to less experienced or less serious players and gets away from the tense atmosphere that sometimes develops around the pool table, making it less likely to become a flashpoint for trouble.

Liam Barrett of SAM Leisure, which has been working on the opportunity with pub groups including Yates, Regent Inns, Eldridge Pope, Spirit and Ultimate Leisure, claims to supply around 90 per cent of Britain's 3,000 American pool tables, and has noted a strong interest among operators.

"Pub chains are looking at American pool, mainly for new income rather than to replace a traditional English pool table," he says. "They are more confident with the image of the American game."

As Liam explains, English pool leagues will not allow teams to play matches on American tables which means you attract a very different player to those who play regularly in community pubs. "Retailers now realise that American pool is not just a matter of bigger balls. The player profile is far wider and more inclusive. If you want to attract different customers to a new venue or change the clientele of an existing one, American pool can be the answer.

"The English pool purist can still enjoy a fast potting game but more importantly the complete novice can gain reward from playing a game where they can sink a few balls.

"It would be wrong to say the game is uncompetitive," he continues. "But it is played less combatively. The word from pub managers is that they get more women players, more trendy young players and less hassle."

American tables also tend to be more imaginatively and strikingly designed to better suit modern bars. But perhaps the most interesting result is the atmosphere. Pool tables are notorious for being a scene of trouble complete with handy weaponry but that seems to be less true of American pool.

Liam has known local authorities to object to new bars where pool is a feature. But, he says, "American pool is proving pool cues are no more dangerous than pint glasses."

Initially tried by independent operators, the first national company to commit to American pool was Scottish & Newcastle Retail - now part of Spirit Group. Branded houses with the right profile not only replaced English tables with American models but also found they could introduce the American game in pubs with strong food sales where pool had never been seen as appropriate.

More recently companies such as Yates Group and Regent have run with American pool lounge developments while independents such as the Elbow Room have built a whole concept around it.

One thing that high street venues have to be confident about, of course, is that a pool table can deliver the right level of income. Where tables have come out of pubs it is often because the space is more profitably turned over to food.

Yet licensees with American tables have also found they can charge more per play - £1.50 or more.

"Operators can achieve good incomes by attracting genuinely new customers who are unworried about paying more if they feel comfortable playing pool for fun, in a conducive atmosphere," Liam concludes.

Case study​

Yates Group is one pubco that is investing in American pool lounges - and chief executive Mark Jones has been a driving force behind the idea.

"It goes back to my mis-spent youth," he says. "I've always held a candle for pool, it's such an easy to play sport.

"But it's become more edgy in the past five years and been associated with male, downmarket, rough bars. But it doesn't have to be. It's a great game."

Mark took his cue, so to speak, from London style bar the Elbow Room, which, as the name suggests, makes a big feature of pool but in a classy environment.

"I saw from that there was a different kind of market for pool."

A trial with American tables at a Yates pub in Croydon, South London, was "a huge success" with three tables taking between £500 and £600 a week.

But Mark was most surprised when he saw who was playing - there were as many women as men picking up a cue and they were attracting "a higher quality customer" who were prepared to pay £1.50 a game.

"The police were nervous about it but because of the 50-50 male-female split, the price per play and the premium environment there were no issues.

"We were so encouraged by the trial that we've now got American pool in 15 of our pubs and I reckon there is room for pool lounges in another 10," adds Mark.

There are between three and five tables at each pub and Yates is promoting the areas through offering to host Christmas pool parties. It is also looking at staging pool exhibitions.

An established feature of the British pub​

Although it is a relatively new pub game - at least compared to darts - over the last 20 or 30 years pool has become an established feature of the British pub.

Summer 2004's Publican Market Report survey showed that 46 per cent of pubs have a table compared with 55 per cent with a darts board. The figure rises to 63 per cent of suburban and estate pubs showing just how important pool is to community houses.

A third, the survey goes on to show, have organised pool teams, again increasing to 47 per cent of local pubs.

So it's not just a matter of machine take. Pool plays a crucial role in getting people into the pub on quieter nights of the week.

The North East is the region where you're most likely to find a pool table in the bar - six in 10 pubs have them. However, the proportion falls to less than one in four South East outlets.