How to open a billiard club: a practical plan from premises to first shift

Opening a billiard club comes down to four decisions: where, which tables, who works the floor, and how the money is counted. The room and the tables are expensive to change later. Accounting is what most owners put off until "after opening", and that is where the early losses begin. Below: a step-by-step plan and a pre-opening checklist.

Premises: floor space, ceiling, air

How much space each table needs

The rule of thumb: leave at least one cue length, about 1.5 metres, between the table edge and any wall, column or neighbouring table, on every side. With less, players can't take shots near the cushion or end up asking for a short cue.

For example, a table with a 2.8 × 1.6 m frame needs at least (2.8 + 3) × (1.6 + 3) = 5.8 × 4.6 m. Neighbouring tables share a walkway, but two players shooting at once must not collide, so leave more than the minimum. Russian pyramid tables are bigger and need more room. Get the exact frame size from the seller and draw the floor plan, with columns, doors and radiators, before you sign the lease: one awkward column can cost you a whole table.

Ceiling, floor and air

• Ceiling. With a lamp over the table and players lifting cues, 2.7–3 m is comfortable; in a low basement the lamp shines in players' eyes.
• Floor. Slate tables are very heavy. The floor must be level and solid; above the ground floor, have a builder check the load.
• Air and humidity. Evening crowds and hot lamps make a hall stuffy, so build ventilation and AC into the renovation and check the local rules on smoking. In a damp basement the cloth wears fast and wood swells; install a dehumidifier.

Location and parking

Guests mostly come in the evening, in groups, by car: you need a visible entrance, a lit sign and parking nearby. In a residential building, agree on late hours with the landlord before signing. Take a long lease: renovation takes time to pay back, and a forced move is the most expensive mistake.

Tables and lighting

Russian pyramid or pool

Choose for your audience. Pool tables are smaller, so more fit in the same hall. If you're unsure, mix the two types and after a few months let revenue per table decide what you buy next.

For a commercial club, buy tables with a slate bed: slate stays flat for years. Chipboard or MDF beds are made for homes and warp under daily play. Have a technician assemble and level each table; an expensive table set up badly plays worse than a modest one set up properly.

Light over the table

• The lamp lights the whole playing surface, corner pockets included, evenly and without shadows.
• It usually hangs about 80–100 cm above the playing surface. Lower and heads and cues hit it; higher and it glares.
• Keep the room light dimmer, so the table stands out.
• During renovation, give each table's lamp its own socket.

Here is why: with the lamp on a smart plug, ClubTime switches it on when a session starts and off when it ends. Empty tables don't burn electricity, and a guest whose time is up can't play "one more frame" for free. More in our article on smart plug automation.

The bar and the staff

The bar as a second revenue line

Guests spend an hour or two at the table and order tea, drinks and snacks. Plan the bar from the start:

• a short menu of hot and cold drinks and a few snacks, because every extra item is cash frozen in stock;
• a fridge, a kettle and storage space;
• a cost and a selling price fixed for every item;
• if you plan to sell alcohol, check which permit you need through government services or a lawyer.

Without stock control, the bar is where money leaks fastest: nobody counts what's left and profit is a guess. ClubTime has bar and stock management with stock levels, FIFO cost and real profit, plus a PIN lock that hides cost and profit from staff.

Staff and shifts

In a small club, one administrator per shift can run the tables, payments and the bar. A bigger hall or busy weekends need a second person, plus a cleaner and possibly night security.

A billiard club stays open past midnight, so run two shifts. Each ends with a cash handover: cash, cards and bar sales checked against the report. Write the rules down: who can give discounts, who answers if a guest leaves without paying, what happens if the till is short.

In ClubTime, staff open and close their shift and hand over the cash in one tap. Staff devices are free; only the owner pays. The owner watches the club live from another phone and gets a Telegram message for every closed table and shift.

Costs: where the money goes

Amounts vary a lot by city, premises and tables, so here are the categories only. Write your own quotes next to each.

One-off (before opening):

• rent prepayment and deposit;
• renovation: wiring with a separate line per table, ventilation, AC, flooring, toilet;
• tables, delivery and assembly;
• cues, ball sets, racks, chalk, cue stands;
• table lamps and room lighting;
• furniture, a bar counter, bar equipment and the first stock;
• the till: phone or tablet, receipt printer, smart plugs;
• signage, opening promotion, registration and paperwork.

Monthly:

• rent and utilities, electricity above all;
• salaries;
• cloth, cue tips and balls, spread across months;
• bar restocking;
• internet, software, advertising;
• taxes: confirm rates and procedures with a tax adviser.

The hall may not fill up at first, so keep a reserve for at least two or three months of running costs. Also decide how fast the one-off spend should pay back: your hourly table price is built on that.

Pre-opening checklist

• Tables assembled and levelled by a technician, cloth tight, each lamp on its own switch.
• Enough cues of different weights per table, with fresh tips.
• Ventilation and AC tested with a full hall.
• Price list at the entrance and the till: day and evening rates, VIP, minimum time if any.
• Tables, rates, staff and bar stock set up in your accounting app; receipt printer tested.
• A trial shift with staff: open a table, move it, close it, hand over the cash.
• Fire safety, registration and tax questions settled with the relevant services or an adviser.
• A soft opening a day or two early: invite friends and test the process on real guests.

Set up accounting from day one

A notebook and "I'll remember" last about a week, then the gaps start: who came when, how long they played, what they took from the bar. A notebook also can't tell you which table earns most or which days are empty.

From opening day, record every session (table, start, end, amount), bar sales and stock, expenses such as rent, salaries and purchases, and every shift handover. A month of that data turns decisions about price, hours and the next table from guesswork into arithmetic.

ClubTime is billiard club software built for exactly this. A timer counts table time, a session moves to another table with its time and bill, reports break down by day, table and shift, and expenses are tracked in the same place. It works offline: data is saved on the device and syncs to the cloud once the connection is back. If your club has just opened and has up to 10 tables, the first 4 months of the full Pro plan are free, with no card, claimed through Telegram.

In short

• Size the room by the cue: about 1.5 m of clear space on every side of each table.
• Pick table types for your audience; buy slate-bed tables and have a technician set them up.
• Split costs into one-off and monthly; keep a reserve for the first months.
• Keep records from opening day: price and every next decision come from them.

Install ClubTime before you open and run your trial shift in it: 15 days free, every feature, no card needed.