HOUSE OF COMMONS POOL CONTEST:  McClymont is new Champion

 Scottish Labour MP Gregg McClymont is the new Annie's Bar Pool Contest Champion.

 He beat runner-up Simon Danczuk 3-1 in the best out of five final.

 Gregg beat event sponsor Jim Fitzpatrick in the semi-finals and Simon beat Nigel Adams.

 All share in the £3,000 prize money which will go to the charities of their choice. Gregg wins £1,500; Simon; £750; and Jim and Nigel win £375 each. The £250 raised by entry fees will be donated to the Journalists' Charity. The event has now raised nearly £25,000 for charity.

Sponsor of the event were Rileys Bar Pool Snooker, the biggest operator of pool and snooker clubs in the UK. The pool table was supplied courtesy of SAM Leisure, who took the opportunity to launch ‘Le Lambert’ a brand new Professional English Pool Table. SAM are Europe’s largest manufacturer of pool and air hockey tables.

The referee was Michaela Tabb, the only women recognised by the World Snooker Association and to referee at the Crucible.

 Riley's presented each semi-finalist with Buffalo pool cues which will be engraved with their names.

 Details of the MPs' charities will be published as soon as the cash has been donated.

 Gregg told Gallery News, " I only entered for a bit of fun. It never occurred to me that I would get through to Finals Night, let alone win. And I didn't realise that I would win £1,500 for the benefit of charities in my constituency. It is a fabulous event."

 Gregg's luck didn't stop when he picked up the coveted 'Annie' trophy - in the raffle he won a Ronnie O'Sullivan T-shirt!

 Sponsoring MP Jim Fitzpatrick paid tribute to Rileys for funding the event for the seventh year. He said it had become one of the most popular events in the Parliamentary calendar.

He thanked the organisers in the Commons, Rob Gibson of Gallery News; Law Officer Peter Brooksbank, his parliamentary assistant Debbie Fenn, and the staff of Strangers' Bar, Will Conway, Richard Pengelly and Barry Kavanagh for accepting entries and answering inquiries. Master of Ceremonies Steve Pound said the event would not have been held at all without the contribution of Lord (Dennis) Turner, who as Chairman of the Catering Committee was responsible for putting the pool table in the old Annie's Bar in 2001.

SAM Leisure’s major supply deal with The Original Bowling Company is proving to be successful.

The Original Bowling Company’s recently acquired Hollywood Bowl sites are all being supplied with brand new pool and air hockey tables from SAM Leisure.
Some 24 bowling centres across the country now boast SAM Magno American coin-op pool tables - the same style as used by the GB9 Professional Tour.
In August 2010, AMF Bowling acquired the Hollywood Bowl sites from Mitchells and Butlers for £39m. The deal resulted in the group - subsequently re-branded as The Original Bowling Company - becoming the largest 10-pin bowling operator in the UK

The company’s bowling centres are typically located on high footfall, mixed-use leisure complexes, and SAM Leisure business development manager Liam Barrett said the new installations have marked the continuation of an already successful supply deal with AMF.

“We have supplied American pool tables to all the new build and refurbished AMF sites for the last three years,” he said. “When The Original Bowling Company changed machine operator on their estate they also specified SAM Fast Soccer air hockeys that were then supplied by the incoming operator.
“The new pool tables and air hockeys were very successful, and so when Original Bowling acquired the Hollywood estate they chose to upgrade all the sites to new Fast Soccers through their operator and Magno American Pool Tables direct from SAM. The machine operator was also changed, and so the entire estate of 24 bowls had all its machines changed in just three weeks of January - a mammoth task. All the tables are now earning well, however, delivering increased revenue on the older machines they replaced.”
Barrett said the changeover went exceptionally well and that, going forward, SAM will continue to supply the accessories and technical support for the pool tables on the estate.

“The most gratifying aspect is that a major customer was encouraged to reorder SAM Fast Soccers and Magno American pool, proving they had previously delivered the high level of revenue required,” he noted. “This major vote of confidence from a big player in the market should stand SAM in good stead for the coming year.”