Woolworths shopping trolleys in Bolton

Seeing some shopping relics on a trip to Bolton.

We're always interested in spotting remains of retailers of yesteryear and while in Bolton we remembered that we'd heard there had been some former Woolworths shopping trolleys in Bolton Indoor Market.

Woolworths shopping trolleys at Bolton Indoor Market

Luckily they were still there. An odd place for them to end up after the closure of Woolies back in 2009. But good to see they're still knocking around. Even if they have been locked up and put out of use!?

Woolworths shopping trolleys at Bolton Indoor Market

Woolworths shopping trolleys at Bolton Indoor Market

Other former Woolworths shops

It's fun seeing old & lost brands, ghost signs and retail relics. I took a look at the ghost signs on a former Woolworths store on Blackpool promenade last September.

We saw a Woolworths ghost sign in Nuneaton in May last year too. That was a nice surprise!

Like the Blackpool store, the Nuneaton shop site had also most recently been a Poundland and a TJ Hughes.

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009. Every so often remnants of the brand become visible again.

We visited the Woolworths in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent in September 2020. That store still had the signage in place and we'd originally spotted it while driving through the town the previous November.

We took a look at an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh in August 2011. That was a Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park. It's long gone now.

You can however still see an old mosaic tile logo at the former Woolworths on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.

Interestingly, there's a playable Woolworths Pick n' Mix Crazy Golf hole at the Teezers Retro Golf course in Coventry!

Social distancing at Cheadle Makers Market

We went to our first outdoor market during the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday morning.

It was an interesting experience indeed.

There was a lot of social distancing signage and a good range of stalls.

There were lots of people out and about too too. Unfortunately not everyone understands what arrows and warning signs mean.

We didn't stay there for too long, but did buy some nice gin and mixers from DS Artisan Food & Drink before we scarpered.

I've been posting snaps of the wide-range of social distancing posters and signs I see on my daily outdoor exercise during the time of coronavirus. You can see them here on the blog and on my Instagram. I've seen some interesting, colourful and clear ones. And some really terrible ones too.

Mario Mini Market in Reddish, Stockport

Finding a super market in South Reddish.

We took our daily exercise in the Reddish area of Stockport yesterday and while having a wander we spotted Mario Mini Market on Gorton Road.

There's another branch in Levenshulme, Manchester.

I've also seen Mario and Luigi ice cream vans in Buxton and Hathersage, Mario movers in Newcastle, Mario's takeaway in Barnsley, and three Mario, Luigi and Mario & Luigi takeaways in Blackpool!

Stockport's Plague Stone

A look at the Stockport Plague Stone in Stockport Museum.

One of the places I highly recommend visiting in Stockport once the coronavirus quarantine lockdown is lifted is the museum in the Market Place.

It's full of interesting exhibits and artifacts.

One of which is a Plague Stone dating back to the 1600's. A very relevant exhibit given the current climate!

The Stockport Plague Stone

Visit the Stockport Museum website for more information.

Mario mini market in Levenshulme

Spotting Super Mario at a European food store in Levenshulme, Manchester.

While having a wander along the Stockport Road in Levenshulme we spotted Super Mario on the sign for a mini market!

In August we spotted Mario's takeway in Blackpool. That place also had Luigi on the window.

Related blog posts:
- Bootleg
- Mario
- Super Mario

Mr D's Magnificent Pie Machine at Cheltenham Market

As a fan of fun business and marketing gimmicks I enjoyed spotting Mr D's Magnificent Pie Machine at Cheltenham Market last week. The steampunk inspired stall is certainly eye-catching.

Mr D's magnificent pie machine stall has a lot of bells and whistles on it

Check out Mr D's Pie Machine website, Twitter and Facebook for more info.

Links:
- Mr D's Pie Machine
- Cheltenham Market

Related blog posts:
- Market
- Marketing
- Business
- Cheltenham
- Shopping
- Pie
- Pies

Tripe in Stockport

A blog post about tripe and the Tripe Marketing Board.

Ever since I first spotted tripe on a butcher's stall at Wigan Market in 2012 I've been following the Tripe Marketing Board with interest. Although not enough interest to have actually given tripe a go. Yet. I'm fairly certain that cow's stomach is something of an acquired taste.

While shopping in Stockport's Produce Hall at the indoor market last weekend I spotted tripe for sale at Deli Delights. The first I've seen since moving to the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport last summer.

Thick seam tripe - a deli delight!

The Tripe Marketing Board tell me that up until the 1960s you could find hundreds of tripe shops throughout Lancashire, with many of the shops run by United Cattle Products (UCP) and offering nose-to-tail food at the attached cafes and restaurants.

The country's last remaining Tripe Shop is in Stalybridge. I'll have to go there when I eventually get round to travelling on the once a week Parliamentary one-way rail service from Stockport to Stalybridge.

Back in December we were in Leeds and saw that there was a new Tripe Counter at Ramsdens Fishmongers at Leeds Kirkgate Market!

What a lot of tripe!

I've also seen tripe for sale in Bolton and Blackpool.

Tripe in Bolton

Tripe in Blackpool

The Tripe Marketing Board are dedicated to educating the public about eating tripe as part of a healthy, balanced diet. The Tripe Marketing Board was an industry-wide response to the continuing post-war decline in tripe sales in the UK. This was due to the ending of rationing, increasing affluence and a widespread perception that it is not fit for human consumption.

Visit the Tripe Marketing Board website for more information about tripe. You can also use Tripe Adviser to locate sellers of the delicacy.

Links:
- Tripe Marketing Board website
- Tripe Marketing Board on Twitter
- Tripe Marketing Board on Facebook
- Stockport Market

Related blog posts:
- Marketing
- Stockport
- Food

The Corner Bar in Stockport Market

A visit to The Corner Bar in Stockport Market.

There's a lot of debate as to which is the smallest pub in Britain/the UK/the planet. On our travels we've been to The Signal Box Inn at the end of the Cleethorpes Light Railway in Lincolnshire (the smallest pub on the planet) and more recently to the Lakeside Inn at Southport (the smallest pub in Britain).

Well, to add to the mix there's a very very very tiny pub in Stockport's Market Hall - The Corner Bar.

Emily and a visiting Simon Hall at a very small bar indeed. It was well stocked with draught and bottled beer and cider

We certainly deserved a drink after our tour of one of the more horrifying stops on the Stockport Town Centre Heritage Trail. Luckily there is plenty of outdoor seating at Stockport Market

Link:
- Stockport Market website
- Stockport Market on Twitter

Related blog posts:
- A visit to the Smallest Pub on the Planet
- The Lakeside Inn at Southport, Britain's Smallest Pub
- Stockport
- Pubs

Gluten free mixes from Spice Queen

On a trip to Ipswich we stopped off in Chelmsford and enjoyed a walkround the town centre and market. we've always got our eyes peeled for gluten free things and so were pleased to see the Spice Queen stall selling a range of mixes that were gluten free.

The chap on the stall was very knowledgeable about gluten free needs and offered some samples which Emily tried and liked. We bought the Chicken Tikka, Chicken Curry and Any Bean Curry mixes.

The pots of flavour come with a recipe sheet and Emily made some great dishes with the mixes. Some photos of the prep and results of the delicious Chicken Tikka and Chicken Curry are below.

Ingredients and recipe sheet for the Chicken Tikka

Getting messy marinating the chicken

Sealing in the flavour

We like to cook chicken using the 'beer' can method. As I'm gluten free we opt for cider cans instead

The curry mix ingredients

A fine gluten free curry. A nice treat. Especially with an obligatory gluten free beer

You can find the Spice Queen team at farmer's markets across Essex. For more information visit the Spice Queen website.

Links:
- Spice Queen website
- Spice Queen on Twitter
- Spice Queen on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Emily's cooking
- Gluten free beer

Finding the Jan Van Haasteren Crazy Golf Jumbo Jigsaw Puzzle in Derby

A long quest to find an elusive Mini-Golf jigsaw puzzle is over!

After much searching on our travels around the UK, Emily and I finally found a missing piece of our Crazy Golf collection as we spotted the Jan Van Haasteren Crazy Golf jigsaw puzzle by Jumbo in Derby!

The Jumbo Crazy Golf jigsaw puzzle by Jan Van Haasteren comes in 1500 and 3000 piece sets

Derby's indoor market has a set of stalls - called Poynton's - consisting of a newsagent, a sweetshop and a treasure trove of jigsaw puzzles!

Emily is a big fan of Wasgij puzzles and together we've been hunting for the Jan Van Haasteren Jumbo 'Mini Golf' jigsaw since we spotted it in a temporary Christmas shop in Ipswich a couple of years ago (and we've rued the decision to not buy it then as it was at the start of a bout of Christmas shopping and we never made it back to the shop).

Emily scores a big win by finding the Jumbo Crazy Golf jigsaw puzzle by Jan Van Haasteren

Faced with a choice of the 3000 or 1500 piece puzzles we opted for the 1500 piece one as we'd need to buy a bigger dining table for the 3000 piece one to fit on!

The puzzle has four titles - Crazy Golf, Midgetgolf, Mini-Golf and Minigolf - and depicts a very crazy miniature golf course! Emily and I might have visited over 550 courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, but we've never seen one as wild and crazy as the one conjured up from Jan Van Haasteren's imagination!

On another recent road-trip we visited the village of Easingwold and spotted The Yorkshire Jigsaw Store there. It's another shop that is worth a look, and while the Jan Van Haasteren Minigolf jigsaw puzzle wasn't in stock, they did say they could've ordered it in for us.

Back in October 2013 the team at Putterfingers put together a great blog post entitled "5 Reasons a Crazy Golf Puzzle is Great Fun!".

Related blog post:
- Jigfest 2012!

Links:
- Derby Market Hall
- Poynton's
- Jan Van Haasteren's website
- Jan Van Haasteren on Twitter
- Jumbo Jigsaw Puzzles
- Jumbo Games UK on Twitter
- The Yorkshire Jigsaw Store
- The Official UK Puzzle Club

Guinness World Record Attempt - Most Brussels Sprouts Eaten in a Minute!

Blog post about attempting a Guinness World Record for the Most Brussels Sprouts Eaten in a Minute. Held in Luton's indoor market in December 2009.


Today me and fellow Minigolfer Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd headed to Luton Indoor Market to compete in a Guinness World Record Attempt for "How many Brussels Sprouts can you eat in 1 minute."!

In my first attempt I managed to eat ten Brussels Sprouts in the one minute time-limit. This was followed up by a further ten in my second attempt - both tries sadly 22 shy of beating the current Guinness World Record of 31!

The method of eating the Brussels Sprouts is very strict and requires you to eat each Sprout one at a time using a cocktail stick. Your mouth must be clear before the next Sprout is eaten and must be shown to a judge before continuing.

I was the second competitor on the day to attempt to beat the current record and Brad was third up. Brad managed to eat 13 Brussels Sprouts in both of his attempts.

I didn't actually like Brussels Sprouts much before the attempt, but I'm actually looking forward to eating more on Christmas Day (though not competitively!).

Video of my Guinness World Record Attempt.


Video of Brad Shepherd's Guinness World Record Attempt.


Video of my Guinness World Record (Second) Attempt.


Photos from the event.








The event was organised by Town & Country Markets and all proceeds from the event went to the Luton & Dunstable Baby Intensive Care Unit and over £300 was raised. The Luton Market 'Best' Attempt was set at 17 Brussels Sprouts (although Market Manager Steve Cook managed to eat 12 in his attempt - and peeled 500 the night before!).

From l-r Organiser Dave Gibbs, Richard Gottfried, Brad Shepherd, Organiser Steve Cook.

The Brussels Sprouts Eating Record Attempt was the second Guinness World Record Attempt I have made this year. Back in May, me and Emily helped break the Guinness World Record for "The Largest Picnic across multiple venues". Eating Sprouts was my first individual attempt – what’s next...?