By Elliott West
Introduction
When analysing the history of billiards snooker, it is always important to recognise those that laid the foundation stones for these colourful and mathematical games that test the mind to its ultimate limits. One of the key players in this slow-burning revolution has to be manufacturer Riley, a company set up in 1897 in Accrington, Lancashire. This was the brainchild of John Edward Riley or E.J. who decided to ditch his job as a Manchester bank clerk in order to fulfil his burning dream to manufacture billiard tables. This wasn’t before he twice failed to set up a sports shop in the local area. This innovator in his field would never have believed that in a short period of time, his products would become a household name and a brand that would become recognised throughout the world. A success that was fuelled by his financial partnership with C.J. Kenyon. A man who was shrewd but a monetary genius.
A Wind of Change
It would take just a hundred years before Riley became one of the world’s recognised brands. Its tables were exported to more than 60 countries and its cues were used by a number of snooker players including Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry. Within a decade of its conception, the Pioneer Works in Accrington was producing a large number of billiard tables, 800 full-sized and 4,000 smaller tables per year. Born out of this manufacturing boom, came a wave of stores across Manchester whose products included billiard tables, golf clubs, footballs, tennis rackets and cricket bats.
However, demand became so high in the 1920s that Riley had to rethink his brand and was forced to sell his stores and concentrate solely on billiards. E.J. Riley died during this boom in 1925 but his legacy would live on with the company owning 40 billiard halls at the time of his passing. As the love for billiards waned and snooker became the preferred game, the company moved with the times and switched its production to snooker tables. A change of tact that would also cause Riley to move into sports sponsorship.
In 1954, the young and rising stars in snooker, John Spencer and Ray Reardon were paid £5 a week to promote the Riley brand. This wave of success would continue with the introduction of colour television in the UK in 1969. Thanks to David Attenborough, the then Controller of BBC2, snooker was introduced in full blazing colour to its network with the launch of the programme Pot Black, a show that brought together eight professional snooker players who competed against each other in a series of half-hour shows, playing a frame a week at the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham for this much-prized snooker crown.
This snooker revolution would propel these professional snooker players such as Alex Higgins, Ray Reardon and John Spencer to become household names, a success that would continue into the 1980s when snooker would experience a major boom in popularity. Riley seized on this window of opportunity, signing up a number of snooker players to its brand including Steve Davis with Davis being given the honour of opening its new factory in Padiham in 1984. So successful were these sponsorship deals that the company had been tracking the rise to success of Stephen Hendry. Riley signed Stephen in 1995 with a five-year deal worth £660,000 per year of the contract.
The Decline
As the raging demand for snooker cooled slightly in the 1990s, so Riley moved its production base from the factory in Padiham to the Network 65 Business Park at Hapton. A move that was driven by increased interest and popularity for pool. However, this decision would come back to haunt them with the company started to suffer financial problems in the late 1990s. A problem that was largely due to a massive increase in production and distribution costs. By 1999, Riley was in serious trouble and a failed management buyout in 1999, led to the company going into administration.
The End of an Era
Riley finally closed the gates of its Riley Leisure Hapton factory just before Christmas in 1999, leading to the loss of 100 jobs. The brand remains in several guises, thanks to its Bedford-based rival, BCE Distributors, buying the company name, trademark and remaining snooker stock. A sad day for a company that lived through the popularity of billiards and snooker but one that couldn’t ultimately battle the changing times. An iconic founder and brand, Riley will long be remembered as the manufacturer who supplied amateurs and professionals with the tools required for multiple cue sports.
