Royal Oak, Ifield

The Royal Oak, Ifield now has a bar billiards table.

Margo and I received a tip-off at around 9pm and have just visited the pub and played two games on it.

It is a Tarratt rental and was only installed today.

The landlady (Sharon) states that she loves the game and the table is 'her baby' so even if it takes a while to catch on there the table will be retained at all costs.

It appears to be a good slate and cloth, but with the usual cushions that kick down, and most unfortunately an enormous gap in each corner where a ball firstly gets trapped allowing the "Dave Hampton Guernsey trick shot" (440 break into the right hand 20 hole) and then finally disappears, swallowed up by the table never to be seen again ! :o ::)  There is no table lighting at present, either.

Sharon is well aware of the shortcomings and is going to get Tarratts back to sort it out a.s.a.p.

It could be a decent venue for bar billiards, there is sufficient space in the bar where the table is situated. But Monday night being darts night is to be avoided.  

[Sparky]

Sounds very promising and hope some lucky players make it there home, especially with such a supportive landlady.

Would be good to have a team playing out of Crawley Pub again. Thanks for the post Tommo :)

Jan 28, 2012 9:57:26 GMT iang said:

The royal Oak in Ifield had a table in for a while & the Landlords were keen to have a team but it was mainly a dart pub if that could be sorted then it would be a great venue as it's not a modern town centre pub.

Sadly no table there now, as per Ian's note above. Which corroborates information I had from Steve King the week before last.