In early 2016 a question was received concerning a tubular metal cue which prompt some research into these cues which were marked in the U.K. In the 1950 to the 1970’s.
The makers of the cues were a famous Midlands based producers of tubular metal called Accles & Pollock. Peter Ainsworth was able to confirm that they made several other sports related items such as arrows for archery and javelins for athletics.
It seems that they first became involved with Billiards and Snooker in about 1954 signing up Joe Davis to help prompt the cue. In the archives an advert from 1955 shows a picture of Joe and the cue with his endorsement. They called the cue the Joe Davis Apollo Tubular Cue
this advert appeared in the February 1955 issue of The Billiard Player
One of the main selling points was the fact that it had a ‘Perfect balance, straightness and taper’ hinting that wooden cues were likely to be ‘bent’.
It must have caused some concern to the traditional wood cue makers because Weildings (now part of Peradon) ran an article in 1955 extolling the virtues of wooden cues.
The Apollo tubular cue was promoted by adverts, enforcements and sponsorship of competitions as the following pictures show.
Sponsorship of Junior Championships 1967 ( note a ‘young’ Clive Everton editor of Snooker Scene)
To improve the tubular cue , which had a problem with the way it sounded when playing a shot, a new upgraded version was introduced in 1967. It had an ‘impact controller’ insert fitted into the shaft. The picture above showing the front page of The Billiard Player shows some of the stages of production as well as the parts fitted into the shaft. The advert in the same magazine had two of the professionals endorsing the upgraded cue.
The Apollo Billiard and Snooker range also included long cue, long rests, half butt cues and half butt rests. These ‘long tackle’ items certainly had some advantages over the wooden equivalents but once they were damaged ,for example if the had a kink, they were not able to be repaired.
The upgraded Apollo had the ‘plastic’ ribbed butt
The cues did not prove to be popular as they were cold to the touch especially in the bridge hand. So perhaps the comments made in the Weilding advert proved to be true!
© E.A. Clare & Son Ltd. 2018. © Peter N. Clare 2018
Reproduction of this article allowed only with the permission from E.A. Clare & Son Ltd.
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. © E.A. Clare & Son Ltd. 2018. © Peter N. Clare 2026
Reproduction of this article allowed only with the permission from E.A. Clare & Son Ltd.
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