Little known is that tiny Lake Coleridge village has its very own billiards club. In fact, the club has its own premises in a building that has a history of its own and traces its heritage to when the nearby power station was in its infancy.
​ Set in the heart of the village among mature trees, the character building has a full sized billiards table with a room of its own, kitchenette/bar and an adjoining lounge with a roaring log burner on cold nights.
The club house is one of a cluster of buildings centred around the power station that reflects a bygone era. Lake Coleridge Billiards Club, as it is officially known, is on Riverview Tce and was housed in a room attached to the single men’s dining room built about 1919. When this gave way to a new room in the early 1950s, just the billiard room was left free-standing and a wing was later added. The billiards club began in about 1920 with the table coming from Chertsey. Regular games of billiards, snooker and pool were played and tournaments held with winners recognised on trophies still displayed in a cabinet. A bar was added in a new wing to the clubhouse in the 1980s for obligatory social functions. Author Rosemary Britten, in her book, Lake Coleridge, the Power, the People, the Land, tells of women finally given full membership rights in 1979 - they had ladies’ snooker nights decades earlier - and membership peaking at 34 paid-up members in 1961.
There was a time when the village had its own school, a still-standing community hall, and 12-hole golf course - now restricted to a putt-and-go course at the local lodge. A social and sports club which began in 1924 was the driving force for at one stage 20-odd organisations of many pursuits to keep the village population of once  more than 100 occupied. These pursuits have dwindled and by the end of the century just the billiards and golf club were still active and today only the former survives. Membership has ebbed and flowed, but the billiards club is one of the few to have been retained because of its strong historic ties with the area. Billiards and snooker continue to play a role in the community. Local villagers and the farming community contribute to the building’s upkeep through membership fees and have been known to play the odd game.
The club is looking to make more use of the facility and welcomes new members. The club house is open to weekend or evening bookings of long snooker sessions by friends or other clubs or to be used for quiet functions. Ideal for businesses looking for a different venue with 1970s wallpaper charm to host team-building events. 

Sitting area with log burner and TV.

The exterior of the Billiards Club.

Bar area.

Large lawn and seating outside the Billiards Club.

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Price:

Price – for just $50 you get the exclusive use of the clubrooms for the day.  Shorter periods by negotiation.

Contact details:

Richard McCulloch  
Email gr8brm@gmail.com 
Phone 021 2428921 or 03 3185025

Rod Harper
Email rodharper@netspeed.net.nz 
Phone 021 2244746