Most of the makers in this series build to their own name. GBL is different: it's the in-house cue range of Green Baize, a Stockton-on-Tees retailer, commissioned and specified by owner Stu Green rather than built by his own two hands. That distinction matters, and we'll come back to it — but the evidence behind GBL's reputation is some of the strongest and most specific of any maker covered here. Who actually makes a GBL cue By Green Baize's own account, Stu Green doesn't ma

Britannia Cues doesn't fit neatly into either category most of this series has covered so far. It isn't a one- or two-person workshop building to individual order like Robin Cues or Stamford Cuemakers. It isn't a retailer stocking other people's brands under one roof either, the problem we found with a couple of other UK names. It's a genuine specialist manufacturer: a Coventry-based company with its own workshop and showroom, making its own branded cues at real volume, and s

Most of the makers in this series measure their history in decades. Birmingham Billiards measures it in generations. Founded in 1936 and still family-run, now in its third generation, the workshop has outlasted most of the brands it once competed alongside, and it's still making hand-spliced snooker cues from its base in Aldridge, England, today. A table maker that never stopped making cues Birmingham Billiards' primary craft is actually bespoke snooker and pool tables — incl

Ask snooker players outside the UK where the best value in hand-made cues is right now, and Thailand comes up more often than almost anywhere else. It's not a coincidence. The country has built a genuine cue-making industry over the past two decades, one that ranges from individual professionals hand-finishing cues under their own name to operations large enough to sponsor a world championship. We've now profiled three of the country's most established names in detail. Here's

Most of the independent makers in this series are a workshop, maybe two. Niche Cues is a different shape of business entirely: a Thailand-headquartered cue maker that has built out a genuine network of factories, academies and shops rather than a single bench. Its own site lists a main factory in Chanthaburi, a second factory in Bangkok's Romkao area, a third in Chiang Mai, a shop and factory in Rayong, a snooker academy attached to the Chanthaburi factory, and a service fact

If you're choosing a new set of snooker balls, two names come up a lot: Aramith 1G and Dynaspheres. Both are Belgian brands and both make phenolic resin balls. They're aimed at different priorities, though, so here's how they compare. Aramith 1G: The Tournament Standard Aramith has supplied Tournament Champion balls to the professional game for over 40 years. The 1G set looks like a standard Tournament Champion set, but it's built to a tighter spec. A standard Tournament Cham

Most cue makers who supply top players learned the trade at a lathe. Sunny Akani learned it at the table. Akani Songsermsawad started playing snooker at eight, turned professional in 2015, and still competes on the tour while running a cue-making business from Bangkok. That combination is the heart of his pitch: he builds cues the way a player thinks about them, and he has been noticed at the very top of the game. One British tabloid, in coverage quoted on his own site, credi

When Mark Selby lifted the World Championship trophy for the second time in May 2016, the cue in his hands needed work before he could pick it up again. The ferrule had worn down from years of use, the shaft showed the marks of a title-winning run, and the people who fixed it were the same family who'd built the cue for him a decade earlier: Stamford Cuemakers, working out of a small Lincolnshire workshop that most of the sport has never heard of. That's the pattern with the

When most players think about upgrading their cue, a handful of names dominate the conversation — Peradon, John Parris, and other big production houses that supply pro shops and sponsor televised events. However, snooker has a quieter, more personal tradition running alongside these major brands: the independent snooker cue maker. These artisans work alone or in small teams, crafting cues one at a time rather than by the thousand. The Value of Independent Cues These smaller o

Robin Cook runs Robin Cues from Carlby, a small village near Stamford in Lincolnshire, England — and despite operating well outside the spotlight enjoyed by some of the bigger-name English cue makers, he's built one of the most loyal followings of any independent snooker cue maker. Cook has been making, repairing and altering snooker, billiards and pool cues for over 30 years, working entirely to individual customer specification from carefully selected timbers. What Players

While the UK dominates the world of independent snooker cue making, Kevin De Roo has built a strong reputation from the other side of the Atlantic, working out of Vancouver, Canada under the Deroo Cues name. He's frequently recommended in cue-sports forums as one of the go-to names for players outside the UK looking for genuinely handmade, professional-quality snooker cues — with a client base that reportedly extends across Asia as well as North America. What Sets Deroo Cues

Mike Wooldridge is one of the most talked-about independent snooker cue makers in the UK, operating out of his workshop and selling under the HandMadeCues banner. His cues are built entirely to order, using ash shafts as standard — Wooldridge has been vocal about preferring ash over maple for the feel it gives players, though maple is available on request through his custom design process. The Cue Range Wooldridge's catalogue runs across several named lines, each aimed at a d

Walk into most snooker clubs and you'll see racks of cues that all came from the same handful of factories. But look closely at the cue in a top player's hand, or ask a serious league player where theirs came from, and you'll usually get a name, not a brand. Someone in a workshop. Someone who spliced that shaft by hand. That's the part of snooker that doesn't show up on a scoreboard: an almost entirely private, word-of-mouth craft, kept alive by a genuinely small number of pe

With the China Open drawing to a close in Taiyuan, snooker fans barely get time to catch their breath before the tour rolls straight into its next stop: the 2026 Wuhan Open, running from 23–29 August. It's the third ranking event of the 2026–27 season. After a China Open packed with early shocks, the field heading into Wuhan looks wide open. So, who's actually in the frame to lift the trophy? The Form Players to Watch Anyone assessing the Wuhan draw has to start with the play

Snooker looks complicated the first time you watch it. Seventeen colored balls, a green baize table the size of a small room, and players who seem to be doing complex math in their heads before every shot. But once you understand a handful of core rules, snooker becomes one of the most satisfying sports to watch — and to play. This guide breaks down everything a total beginner needs to know: the equipment, the object of the game, how scoring works, and the basic rules that go

The China Open is back on the World Snooker Tour calendar for the first time since 2019, and it hasn't taken long for the tournament to live up to the drama fans have missed. Running from 8–16 August at the Riverside Sports Centre in Taiyuan, the event carries a total prize fund of £1.2 million, with £250,000 going to the eventual winner — a payday that has drawn snooker's biggest names, including Ronnie O'Sullivan and defending champion Neil Robertson, back to Chinese soil.

If you've spent any time around a snooker table, you've probably held a Peradon without even realising it. Founded in 1885, Peradon is the oldest cue manufacturer in the world. Their cues are a staple in clubs, pub leagues, and pro players' collections alike. This guide breaks down who they are, what they make, and which range suits your game and budget. A Quick History of Peradon Peradon has been hand-crafting cues from their factory in Liverpool since 1885. They were the fi

If you're wondering what's next on the World Snooker Tour calendar, you're in the right place. Between the tail end of the Championship League and the start of the new 2026–27 season, there's a lot happening on the baize this summer — and we've broken it all down below. Right Now: Championship League Snooker As of this week, the Championship League Snooker is already underway at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, England. This ranking event is being played across multiple stage

If you love snooker, you know how thrilling it is to follow every frame, every break, and every shot. Keeping up with the latest action can be a challenge, especially when matches happen all over the world. That’s why having a reliable source for live snooker scores and comprehensive coverage is essential. Today, I’m going to walk you through everything you need to know about following snooker live, where to find the best updates, and how to make the most of your snooker-watc

The new season is almost here — and it's packed with reasons to be excited. The ink is barely dry on Wu Yize's name on the World Championship trophy, but World Snooker Tour has already unveiled the provisional calendar for the 2026/27 season. It's another heaving schedule of action, and with some big shake-ups to digest alongside the familiar classics, now is the time to get yourself up to speed. Here's your complete guide to what's coming. The Big News: Saudi Arabia Is Out,