Burroughes & Watts is one of the oldest, most prestigious and best known names in snooker and pool. Originally founded in London in 1836, it soon flourished as a leading manufacturer of billiards tables, cues and accessories.
Burroughes & Watts helped pioneer the game of professional snooker. In those early days and for many years to come, there was keen competition between the company and its rivals for the honour of providing the tables upon which the various championships were played, including the World Championship!
Burroughes & Watts therefore gained a formidable reputation world-wide for the quality of its snooker tables, cues and accessories. By 1900, not only did it have branches in many of the major cities in the U.K., it also had branches in many countries throughout the world. These included India, China, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Ceylon, Malaysia, Burma, Chile, and the Canary Islands.
Burroughes & Watts received considerable royal patronage, especially from Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, were bot keen snooker players. She held the name in such high esteem that she bestowed a Royal Warrant on the company. Burroughes and Watts was therefore appointed supplier of billiards tables to Her Majesty the Queen. Royal warrants quickly followed from the Prince of Wales, and later Kind Edward VII, the King of the Belgians and the King of Greece. As a result, even to this day, many of the royal palaces and stately homes in the UK, as well as overseas, boast a Burroughes & Watts table.
Overseas, the company gained many prize medals at international fairs in Europe for the quality of its products. This, in turn led to enormous world-wide recognition and exporting success.
Snooker was born on a Burroughes and Watts table
The distinguished ‘Ooty’ gentlemen’s club, in northern India is where the game of snooker was invented by Lieutenant Colonel Neville Chamberlain, a British army officer in around 1882 on a Burroughes & Watts® table. This table still has pride of place in the club and is in regular use to this day.
Legendary names in snooker such as John Roberts Jnr., Tom Reece, Melbourne Inman and later in the 1920’s, early snooker greats such as Walter Lindrum, Willie Smith, Clark McConachy, Tom Newman and arguably the greatest player ever, Joe Davis, all had connections with the company through using Burroughes & Watts cues and tables in their history making exploits. In fact, the first ever professional snooker match, lasting a full week, to be played at a major London venue was staged at Burroughes & Watts Soho Square headquarters in September 1922. On this date, Arthur Peall beat Joe Brady 34 frames to 14. The Burroughes & Watts reputation continued into the 1950’s and early ’60’s through now household names such as Ray Reardon, Cliff Wilson, Joe and Fred Davis, Gary Owen and Rex Williams.
