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February 12, 2010

London landmark to be sold

House’s Restaurant and Pool Room had been owned for over 46 years

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

There’s nothing better than a good pool room hot dog and after more than 46 years, House’s Restaurant and Pool Room in London will soon prepare its last.

On the corner of East Fourth Street, locally known as Manchester Street, and Hill Street, Dean House has put the business up for sale.

House, who was a freshman at London High School when his parents, Robert (Sid) and Wilma House, opened the restaurant, remembers the exact weekend in 1963. It was the weekend when Pres. John F. Kennedy was shot.

And from the beginning, Dean was totally involved in the business.

He took over full management of the eatery and billiard hall about 30 years ago.

The restaurant opened just one space to the west in what is now a lawyer’s office and eventually expanded into the corner building after Schell Shoe Store closed, making that building the restaurant and the other building a place to play pool.

In the late 1970s, many of the buildings in that block burned or were damaged after a natural gas explosion, including the upper part of the business, and both the restaurant and pool room were merged into the current site.

Known for its menu, mostly hot-dogs, hamburgers and sandwiches, the place has done good business through the years.

And, House stressed, the restaurant has never scored less than 100 percent on the health department’s inspections.

Walking in is sort of going back in time with the four Steepleton pool tables, a jukebox that plays 45s and an antique cash register.

He once had pinball machines. The pool tables date back into the mid-1960s and 1970s.

Clientele is good, but “not like it used to be,” noting the time when “we had three pool rooms in London, ours, Jesse Cloyd’s and Weaver’s,” he recalled.

“They were all jam-packed all the time,” he said, adding “pool was big back then. It’s not like that now. These young guys are not really interested like they used to be. There used to be good players from London and Corbin.”

He mentioned some of the good players from the old days.

They included Ed Eversole, East Bernstadt’s Tony Howard who had only one eye. “They called him ‘one-eyed Tony.’ I’d say he was one of the best around here.”

In fact, House noted, his father, Sid, was a pretty good pool player. And one of London’s premier pool players, Shirley Cloyd, spent a lot of time on House’s tables. Auctioneer and real estate broker Ray Reams was a regular at the tables as well. Those fellows are gone now.

In those days, pool was played for about ten cents per rack. Today it costs $4 an hour.

House said he’s going to miss the place, “You know, the same people come in every day. You get attached to them.”

Thursday afternoon, some of those people to whom he has become attached were in the restaurant.

Carla and William McWhorter had dropped in for an afternoon snack. She said the food is “really good, always.”

In the back room, Blake Miller and Josh Metcalfe were facing off in a game of nine-ball. Roy Jones, who moved back to London after working in Chicago for years, and Hobert Simpson were watching and killing some time.

“We hope someone will buy it and keep it open,” Jones, 72, said, “If this place closes, forget about a pool room in London.”

Simpson, 59, recalled when he worked for Sid House racking balls at a dime per rack.

Jones said Simpson is a pretty good pool player and Simpson agreed, noting he could clear the table of a full rack in maybe a minute or a minute-and-a-half.

Dean House said he decided to close the place because of some health issues.

It will close on Wednesday and be sold at auction on Saturday, Feb. 20, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

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