How much does it cost to recover a pool table in Dubai?

Recovering a billiard table in Dubai costs AED 1,400 to AED 2,000, cloth and labour included, depending on the grade of cloth you choose. A partial replacement - bed only, or cushions only - is AED 1,100.

Most of the guides you will find on this question are written for the American market and quote US dollars, US labour rates and cloth brands that are not sold here. This one is for the UAE.

Recovering, re-clothing, refelting - same job

The three words describe the same service: stripping the worn cloth off the stone bed and the cushion rails, and fitting new cloth. "Felt" is technically the wrong word - billiard cloth is a woven wool or wool-nylon fabric, not felt - but everyone uses it, so we do too.

What it costs, by cloth grade

• Basic grade - AED 1,400. Moorj 500 cloth: durable and good value. The right choice for a home table that gets played a few times a month, or a table you plan to replace soon.

• Competition grade - AED 1,700. CPBA MG-700: faster and more consistent than Moorj 500, and it holds that consistency far longer. This is what most people should buy.

• Premium grade - AED 2,000. CPBA TN-999 or CPBA Competition: tournament-level cloth for serious players and commercial venues.

• Partial replacement - AED 1,100. Moorj 500 on the play area only, for when the bed is worn but the cushions are fine.

All four prices include the cloth itself, the labour, and the colour of your choice. There is no separate call-out charge.

What is actually done

The job happens in your home or venue - the table does not go anywhere. Our technician removes the cushion rails, strips the old cloth from the bed and the rails, cleans and inspects the bed, fits the new cloth to the bed under proper tension, re-covers each cushion, then reassembles the table and levels it before leaving.

The levelling at the end is not optional and it is not an extra. A table that has been recovered but not re-levelled will play worse than it did before.

Why the price range is narrower than you expect

Between the cheapest and the most expensive full recover there is only AED 600. That surprises people, because the difference in how the table plays is large. The reason is that most of the cost is labour - the cloth itself is the smaller half of the bill.

This is why we almost always recommend moving up a grade rather than down. If you are already paying for the work, the better cloth is the cheap part of the decision.

If you want to see the cloth on its own, Moorj 500 is AED 550, CPBA MG-700 is AED 750 and CPBA TN-999 is AED 950 per table set. Buying cloth alone only makes sense if you have a fitter already.

How often does a table need recovering?

In a UAE home with regular play, every three to five years. In a café, club, hotel or office that sees daily use, every one to two years.

Dubai shortens those intervals compared with a milder climate, for two reasons: fine dust gets ground into the pile by every ball, and summer humidity mats the nap down. Brushing after every session genuinely extends cloth life here - see caring for a billiard table in Dubai's climate.

Signs it is time

• Shiny, matted patches at the break spot or in front of the pockets.

• Balls skidding off the cue instead of rolling cleanly.

• Visible thinning where the bed shows through.

• A tear, a burn, or a seam starting to lift.

• The cloth feels damp or smells musty after a closed-up summer.

One worn patch is enough. Cloth cannot be repaired in sections - a bed recover is a bed recover.

Choosing the colour

Any colour you like, at no extra cost, but two practical notes. Blue and green are the tournament standards and are easiest on the eyes under bright lights. Very dark cloths - black, deep grey - show chalk dust badly and make the balls harder to track. Light colours show every mark. Sunlight fades blue and green fastest, so if the room has an uncovered window, factor that in.

Which grade should you actually buy?

• Family table, occasional play: basic Moorj 500 at AED 1,400.

• You play properly and care how the table feels: competition CPBA MG-700 at AED 1,700. This is the one we recommend most.

• Serious player, or a venue charging for play: premium CPBA TN-999 or CPBA Competition at AED 2,000.

• One end worn, the other fine: partial Moorj 500 at AED 1,100.

Does it matter which cloth was on it before?

No. Any grade can go onto any table. What does matter is which game you play - a napped cloth and a napless worsted cloth behave completely differently, and that is a bigger decision than the price grade. Billiard cloth grades explained covers exactly what separates them.

Book a recover

We recover billiard tables across Dubai and the UAE, whether or not the table came from us. Call 04 422 9454 or WhatsApp 055 918 4887, tell us the table size and how it plays now, and we will tell you which grade makes sense.