Play Bar Billiards at the Owl and Pussycat

In the Cotswold Inns of your author's youth, Bar Billiards tables were plentiful, but in many areas of London, they have long since been replaced by quiz machines and big-screen TVs. That's why your author is a fan of the Owl and Pussycat, on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch. Despite a recent minor refurbishment, it has retained the table and most of its character, and in a land of haircuts and posing your author is thankful.


Bar Billiards is a particularly British game, though it is derived from a Russian game and there are various European versions. It began here the 1930s, and tables were made by the Jelkes company of Holloway Road in London and sold to pubs around the country. It became very popular in pubs without room for a proper billiards, snooker or pool table as an alternative to the local snooker club.

The rules take a bit of learning, but there is a rules guide, and once you learn them it is great fun. If any readers have spotted any others in London pubs, your author would be very grateful if they could mention them in the comments.

For more on Bar Billiards, see http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Bar-Billiards.htm or for details of the pub click the link above.