78, Dean St., Oxford St., London, W.1.
November 20,1933.
Dear Sir(s), We have drafted a constitution and Rules for the proposed Association, which will be submitted for your consideration at a further Meeting of all Billiards Hall Proprietors, to be held on Thursday, the 30th November, 1933, at the Dean Hotel, Oxford Street, London, W. 1 (a short distance west of the Frascati Restaurant, but on the opposite side of the street), at 2.30 p.m.
We suggest that the first duties of the Officers and Council you appoint should be:—
1. Means for immediate improvement of business.
2. Publicity— Paid and Free.
Newspaper Advertising.
Newspaper Articles.
Circularisation by post and handbills.
3. Desirability and possibility of introducing the voucher system.
4. Competitions.
5. Reform of the Licensing Laws.
The Meeting will be required to Elect the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Council.
We appeal to every Hall Proprietor, especially those not affiliated to a similar Association, to attend this important meeting, that something may be done to bring about that revival of business we all desire.
Yours faithfully, WILLIE HOLT, President.
(Billiards Table Makers' Assn.) AMOS TAYLOR.
(Central Counties Association.) F. SMITH.
(North of England Association.) T. W. CLARK.
(Temperance Billiard Halls, Ltd.) G. GOLDBLATT. {London.) W. T. RAINBOW.
ALTHOUGH the BILLIARD PLAYER has no proprietary or financial interest whatever in any billiard hall, we have to thank the gentlemen who convened the above meeting for an invitation to be present.
WE do not think that a complete list of all those present or represented at the meeting would help things. If the names of those at the foot of the notice convening the meeting are not sufficient to inspire confidence, then nothing can do it.
THE business transacted calls for no verbatim report. It was decided unanimously to form the Association, a Constitution and Rules were agreed upon, and the following officials and Council elected.
THE spirit of the meeting was splendid. Mr. Willie Holt presided. Mr. W. T. Rainbow explained matters of technical import with ready facility, and made a powerful appeal to all present to work together for the good of the game on which their business depends.
He was admirably supported in this direction by Mr. Amos Taylor, whose well-informed speech made an excellent impression. Mr. Billington-Greig made many helpful suggestions, so did Mr. A. Thorpe, and many others, while Mr. G. Goldblatt kept saying things very much to the point.
MR. T. W. CLARK, now first President of the Association, said very little, but his every word had "business only is meant" in it.
We want to say at once, particularly for the information of those not present at the meeting, that any idea" that the whole thing is another stunt "promoted by any one firm can be cut right out. Forget it, here and now. Mr. Clark is in this new movement to get things done for the benefit of the billiard-hall business.
So, in our honest belief, are all the other officials and members of the Council. There is plenty for them to do, and we think the sooner those "sitting on the fence" join up and help, the better it will be for business for all.
WE have been present at the beginning of so many things connected with billiards, both as a sport and a business, that a little cynicism might be forgiven us on the present occasion. But we have none, and say without reservation that we believe the new Association to be the best business move we have ever seen started for billiard playing in general and billiard halls in particular; the two are much too closely linked to be regarded as things apart.
COMING down to brass tacks, we look at things like this. With two companies alone owning at least two thousand five hundred tables, it is a sober estimate which allows ten thousand tables to belong to the proprietors of all our billiard halls. Valuable premises also belong to them, freehold and leasehold, as do fittings, goodwill, and all else entitled to figure on the assets side of a balance sheet.
IF we value the above at a round million pounds, we are certain that no man acquainted with the actual facts and figures would raise a quibble. There is at least a million of money in the billiard-hall business from Land's End to John o' Groat's.
There it is; what it may be earning to-day, whether it is depreciating or appreciating, does not affect our immediate point, which is to show that the billiard-hall business is a big thing when the adjective " national "is applied to it.
THAT a business of this magnitude should have its National Association is a commonplace of commercial life. It may be wondered why, until November 30, 1933, no step was ever taken to bring such an Association into being; nothing done to form a national body to work for the common cause. It may be a little unkind to hint about adversity making strange bedfellows, but it is useless to blink at the fact that all the while the financial going was good, the slogan of many billiard-hall owners was "Leave us alone. We prefer to manage our own business in our own way."
NOW, and it is again useless to blink at it, business is pretty bad in many billiard halls.
Some are doing better than others, of course, but the general trend of the business does not make those who are in it feel particularly happy at the moment. Hence, our National Billiards Halls Association, with its first object—" Means for immediate improvement of business."
QUITE so, we are all in favour of it. But, before coming to remedial measures, let us look at the cause of the trouble. Billiard hall proprietors blame the talkies, the tote, the dogs, football, whist drives, trade depression, unemployment, war losses, or any other external cause which can be indicted as responsible for dwindling custom.
It is futile to ignore these adverse circumstances. They exist, have made themselves felt, and are felt every moment of the business day in the billiard halls of this country.
BUT, and we cannot help it if our brass tacks prick tender skins among our friends, we must say that such a thing as a billiard-hall proprietor looking within for the cause of bad business has never been brought to our notice. We do not say that no such inward searching of heart has ever been known, but are certain we have never heard anything about it.
WE have been told over and over again, with much shaking of heads and expressions of calamity present and to come, of all sorts of reasons why the billiard hall business is in the doldrums of a zone of deep depression. But we have never heard anything like this:" We spent a thousand in advertising last year, another thousand in providing special attractions in our halls. We also spent thousands more than usual on depreciation account to make our halls as attractive as possible, keeping tables and all playing accessories better than ever before. In spite of all this outlay, our trade is worse to-day than we have ever known it to be."
WE have never heard a billiard hall owner talk as above.
You may grade the thousands down to tenners, to fit the finance of small concerns, and the same applies.
Until we do hear such a statement, and see it proved by visible advertising and special attractions, to say nothing of private dispensations on depreciation account, we shall refuse to believe that the billiard-hall business is really and truly "up against it," taking the country through and through, allowing that black spots in distressed areas must be considered exceptional.
OUR faith is unshaken in the recreational appeal of billiards and kindred games. This is the raw material which billiard-hall owners have to work up into profits and prosperity. Are they doing this, or are some of them more inclined to job easy profits out of the raw material? Our direct connection with billiard journalism, extending from editing the BILLIARD PLAYER to many other activities, enables us to state without hesitation that more interest, and more intelligent interest, is shown to-day in billiards and kindred games than ever before.
This interest is almost exclusively a playing one, connected with shots and breaks, points in the rules, and the like matters, which all goes to prove that the interest is there, if billiard hall owners play up to it.
HOW are they to play up to it?
Well, to begin with, it is no use thinking in threepenny-bits.
The external competition for money available for pleasure spending is much too keen. There is a million invested in the billiard-hall business at a moderate estimate. If it means to make a national effort to improve things, this important business must move with the times, and talk real money when advertising, publicity, competitions, and so forth are on the programme. It must face facts and finance, with no glance back, not even at the comparative yesterday of easy prosperity.
TEN or a dozen years ago the billiard-hall business was such an easily-worked gold mine that, as our advertisement columns prove, substantial rewards were offered for information of suitable places for halls. Then, in with a bang went as many tables as could be crowded into the available room; in went a money-taker, and the proprietors expected their capital back in two or three years with twenty per cent at least for ever afterwards. Some of these speculators are still in the business, sucking very sore fingers, vowing that billiards is dead, and grumbling tremendously because " the money for jam "which they expected has turned out to be of quite another flavour. To-day, they own dens of the type described in another part of this issue of the BILLIARD PLAYER, and the sooner they are out of the business the better it will be for those who have a permanent and substantial interest in it.
HERE, from a responsible quarter, is an example of the delectable facility with which past money has been made in the billiard hall business. A gentleman we are pleased to call a personal friend, a shrewd man of business and head of important hall-owning interests, said, quite seriously— "Good players are no use to us. The best of our custom comes from youngsters of from sixteen to the early twenties."
"What happens to them at, say, twenty-five?" we asked.
"Oh, they get married, and cannot afford to play."
WE changed the subject, feeling it unkind to ask whether "single men only" supported all those counter-attractions which the same gentleman was very eloquent about. The fact of the matter is, and we care not who is pricked again by our brass tacks, that in the past money has been too easy to get in much of the billiard-hall business. Thanks to a great game offering exceptional opportunities for commercial investment, many billiard halls thrived and prospered on a foundation built by those who made billiards a national pastime.
It is up to room owners as a body to do a bit of digging on their own account just now, to unite and put in spade work of a type they have never thought about before, and if they do not roll up their sleeves they can blame only their own sloth and clotted apathy if their business drops from bad to worse.
THOSE left in when the "money for nothing" crowd are cleaned out must decide either to quit the race for custom against outside attractions, or else make an entry with something backed heavily enough to win through. Without quoting them, we may say that the figures mentioned in the Constitution are but a fraction, and a small fraction at that, of the support which must be forthcoming if a national movement is to get busy on worth-while lines. An income worthy of a million-pound concern Is the need—the Association does not budget for a tenth of it.
NOT yet. We can read between the lines of the Constitution an evident intention to get whatever funds may be used to advantage.
So far, enough is asked for to try things out. Given success, "there is plenty more where the last lot came from," to use a familiar expression.
If there is no improvement, no more money will be put in, and the Association may exist in name alone, may meet once a year, may try to look important, but it will never amount to anything worth bothering about until its work proves so valuable that financial support is forthcoming on a scale far transcending anything figured in the present Constitution. In other words, the Association will be judged by results, and that quickly.
If it can show "something attempted something done" for a few hundreds, the thousands it must have to make good with will doubtless be forthcoming.
MORE business is the crying need of the moment. We would advise the Association to concentrate every effort and every sixpence on this without losing a day or even an hour. The excellent, but more remote, activities of the Association can be shelved for the time being. Reform of the licensing laws relating to billiards, for instance, is doubtless most desirable, but it will keep until the Association brings more business to its members.
This is even more true of Sunday billiards, a topic there is sure to be plenty of argument about for years and years before we get anywhere near settling it. Better leave it alone for the time being; get busy after increased business—that is what everybody wants, and quickly. It will be a big mistake to waste time and effort on less urgent matters which can wait their turn until business begins to look up.
WHAT ought to be done to get more business? Well, here is a hint from the cinema world. The writer was once London booking agent for an astute Yorkshireman who had a lot of money "in the pictures." His motto was simply this. He ran his halls so that he would be pleased to take a personal friend to the show for a genuine treat. Anything not good enough for him, and he was a wealthy man who ran his Rolls-Royce, was not good enough for the people who planked down their bobs to enter his cinema halls. He made it pay, pay hand over fist. Now, my good friends in the billiard-hall business, do not be cross at the well-meant suggestion: you should be proud men to take your bosom pal to play a hundred-up in your halls. Do not smile, do not talk about "the class" of this, that, and the other type of patron. Allow for all this, and see where the ideal of our old employer can be made to apply. There is doubtless room for it somewhere; even a little of it may do a lot of good.
GIVEN the above, the rest depends on the "first duties" of the Association. But it is no use advertising billiards when you have none on the premises, or none worthy of the name. Cut out, as you value your property, that silly nonsense about "anything is good enough for the players we get." This is splendid, if you want a reliable funeral oration for your halls. Shun it as you would a pestilence. Stick this in your hats, instead—"The best is good enough for us and our patrons."
HERE, for the time being, we must leave the subject, but not without a final word of approval for the aims and objects of the new body. It has the right men behind it, and the need for its existence and activities is manifest and pressing.
Our one word of criticism is this.
We do feel very strongly that it is a mistake to ignore the Billiards Association and Control Council utterly and completely. After all, billiards is a sport, and those who govern it as a sport should be recognised by those who are in it as a business. Nothing but harm can result from the discourtesy of a snub to the governing body of the game. It would cost nothing, and mean much to deep underlying influences, if the new Association gave a hand of recognition to others who have the interests of the game at heart, and give their time and work to its government. It is not good business, not in the least clever, to ignore the fact that big capital is invested in a great game which would be in grave peril if its government was unworthy of recognition.
Here, we know, our brass tacks are pesky again. We care not; a spur is always helpful to get any new movement going. Our only intent is that our brass tacks will provide it.