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New Peacock Billiards opens


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#1 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 10 May 2007 - 07:34 AM

A billiards hall for sharks and scholars
Darron Kloster, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007
Scholars are swimming with sharks in David Peacock's reinvented billiards room in downtown Victoria.

Cool Hand Lukes are crossing cues on velvet-topped tables while literature buffs debate the mysterious stories of James Joyce in the adjoining bistro, which is covered with paintings and writings in honour of the enigmatic Irish author.

On thing's for sure: This ain't your grandfather's pool hall.


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James and David Peacock at their new, very deluxe pool hall and bistro.
John McKay, Times Colonist

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Font: **** But it's very much David Peacock, a studious sort who has run a classy establishment in the city for 25 years and now is mixing his two passions in an impressive rebirth in the city core.

Peacock Billiards, long a fixture just off the beaten path on Johnson Street, now covers 10,000 square feet below the CIBC bank at Douglas and View streets. There are 30 billiards tables of various sizes, including one outside on the patio, and the James Joyce Bistro -- serving tapas, soups and salads and cappuccinos -- is a shrine to the controversial but ever-popular author.

It may seem like oil and water for the sharks and scholars, but you'd be surprised. "Of course I've read Joyce," said one player as he was leaving with leather cue case. "Is this a nice place or what?"

Fittingly, tokens for pool games are inscribed with a quote from Joyce: "They lived und laughed ant loved end left."

Victoria artist and longtime Times Colonist art critic Robert Amos, who has known Peacock for two decades and shares the same passion for Joyce, has outdone himself adorning the 130-seat bistro. Amos's mural work on the walls combines paintings of Joyce characters and friends with the author's writings from Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake and other stories. He also painted several Baltic birch table tops in washed brown with verse, detailed Celtic knots and scenes from Joyce's writings.

Peacock-feather-print fabrics -- and the colourful mascot from the old place -- as well as leather couches and stuffed designer chairs, iron-and-wood tables and cosy booths are throughout.

"I had 15 months to think about it and put it together, and I'm happy with it," said Peacock, 62. "I retired and I really didn't like it."

His plan is to bring billiards back to the pastime it once was and to make the hall a destination for tourists and locals, while making downtown a popular place to be again.

He said reasonable rent on such a large space and help in leasehold improvements made the venture viable.

Peacock sold his former hall and land to developer David Chard two years ago and was staring at retirement. He had looked at possible sites outside the city with lots of parking but little space.

It takes 160 square feet for people to play pool, said Peacock, and you need enough tables to make money. "Several local pool halls have failed for that reason," he said. "I don't know if there's a pool hall in the world right now that is so well situated. We've got 40 feet of frontage on two streets. We'll get tourists and we'll get locals."

Managed by Peacock's son, James, 28, Peacock Billiards opened on Monday. It is a 24-hour, seven-days operation.

The sharks will get a choice of games and tables -- from pocketless Caran-style, popular in Korea and parts of Europe, to the full-size six-by-12-foot tables and a three-by-seven used in U.S. eight-ball tournaments. They have four of the "Ferrari's" of foosball tables. Peacock also sells tables from manufacturers in the U.S., Spain and other parts of Europe.

Levelling 30 tables was a painstaking process that took several weeks. Each table has to be within one one-thousandths of an inch or better at each end.

Surprisingly Peacock calls himself a "C player' with the cue, saying he spent more time running the business and reading than playing the tables.

Born in California and a psychology graduate at Berkeley, Peacock came of age in the middle of the anti-war movement and emerging hippie phenomenon, attending Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane concerts at Fillmore East.

He spent time later as an army medic in Colorado but was never sent to Vietnam.

He ventured north with his wife in 1970, just after the killings at Kent State, to help a friend in construction in Bella Coola. He fell in love with the province and, later, Victoria. "We were enlightened ... We thought the Iron Curtain was coming down. California was too cutting edge and we really preferred something more provincial," said Peacock.

After decades in Victoria and now settling downtown, he is philosophical about the move to the core, which has been fraught with drug use and a rising street population. Staying open 24 hours isn't a concern, he said.

"The homeless population can be agreeable if you're respectful but firm. They respond. I don't find downtown scary at all."

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#2 aastra

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Posted 20 May 2007 - 09:47 PM

I checked out the new place. They've done a pretty good job with that space. I think a funkier colour or even a mural would have been better for the bare concrete walls around the building's sunken stairwell. They painted the walls green, which is better than nothing. But I'm thinking a bright purple or red might have been better.

Anybody know why there's a railing obstructing access to the east branch of that stairwell? I'm talking about the staircase that runs parallel with View Street. It's blocked off at the top.

If that portion of the stairway is off limits, then why not transform it into a fancy water feature or something? And why not extend the commercial space in the base of the CIBC tower beyond so that it reaches all the way to the sidewalk? Just some thoughts.

#3 Holden West

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Posted 20 May 2007 - 10:16 PM

^Good points.

I think it's a fine space. Actually much nicer than I thought it would be.

I think the railing is to prevent skateboarders from doing whatever skateboarders do when they fly down a flight of stairs. Still, you think that there would be something other than an ugly fence to solve that "problem".
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#4 Icebergalley

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Posted 20 May 2007 - 10:50 PM

Anybody know why there's a railing obstructing access to the east branch of that stairwell? I'm talking about the staircase that runs parallel with View Street. It's blocked off at the top.


That stair has been blocked for a # of years now...

It looked like a "hotspot" for skaters?

With Peacock's being a 24 hr a day operation, wonder if the City will try and close it down early just like they seem to be attempting for the late night food places...?

#5 G-Man

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 07:25 AM

They even have a menu.

Visit my blog at: https://www.sidewalkingvictoria.com 

 

It has a whole new look!

 


 



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