Our pool table hire services are not just for pubs and bars, by any means – we also provide pool tables to retirement homes, as our case study from Heyeswood Retirement Complex shows.
Keeping active is an important part of staying healthy in old age, and thanks to our pool table hire services, retirement homes can give their residents a social activity that helps them to keep fit, without being too demanding.
But you don’t have to take our word for it – research published in 2014 shows why pool tables work so well as a social activity for older people.
Danish anthropology researcher Aske Lassen published ‘Billiards, Rhythms, Collectives: Billiards at a Danish activity centre as a culturally specific form of active ageing’ in the journal Ethnologia Europaea.
Significantly, he noticed that the steady pace of cue sports means participants – including the elderly – can play for hours at a time without becoming exhausted.
“Active ageing policies create a hierarchy amongst activities, wherein constant physical activity is at the core of a healthy old age,” he wrote.
“But in billiards, activity and passivity are meticulously composed into a rhythm that enables the players to play for hours and produces a collective practice.”
This boosts the fitness benefits of cue sports like pool, snooker and billiards, as well as their social aspects too – something we’ve seen at Heyeswood, where some residents who were initially doubtful have now discovered a newfound love for pool.