Happy Back to the Future Day 2025

Today is Back to the Future Day.

The 21st October is 'Back to the Future Day' as Marty McFly and Doc Brown travelled from 1985 to the 21st October 2015. So, the future was actually ten years ago now!

I got to see a DeLorean time machine at MediaCity in Salford back on the 13th March 2020. How different times were then!

Back to the Future is 40 years old

Back to the Future was released on the big screen 40 years ago today.

Back to the Future was released on the 3rd July 1985.

Cinema audiences in the USA were treated to the first screenings of Back to the Future 40 years ago today!

I got to see a DeLorean time machine at MediaCity in Salford in March 2020

We found a (now lost) video rental shop in Little Lever, Bolton in October 2020. It was stocked with loads of VHS tapes - including Back to the Future Part II. It was like stepping back in time!

I got to see my first DeLorean in real life at the Didsbury & South Manchester Car Show in Didsbury Park in July 2019

Blockbuster Entertainment postcards

A look at some old Blockbuster Video promo postcards.

I managed to find these nice Blockbuster Entertainment postcards by Boomerang back in 2020

I've enjoyed researching the lost brand and seeking out remnants of old Blockbuster stores over the last few years.

Check out my guest post about Blockbuster Video on the Picture Postcard Magic blog from Reflections of a Bygone Age back in 2020.

Picture Postcard Magic 31st October 2020 with Richard Gottfried What have you been watching during lockdown? With 2020...

Posted by Reflections of a Bygone Age on Saturday, 31 October 2020

The Royal Nawaab Stockport Pyramid

The Stockport Pyramid has reopened as a restaurant.

One of the first landmarks - among many fine buildings - we saw when we moved to Stockport in 2016 was the Stockport Pyramid.

Not many towns in the UK can lay claim to being home to a pyramid!

The Stockport Pyramid was home to the Co-operative Bank until 2018 and the building had been empty until it was purchased by Royal Nawaab with plans to turn the structure into a restaurant and banqueting venue. The venture has cost £15 million!

The building was originally planned to be the first of five pyramids in Stockport's own Valley of the Kings. That plan didn't come to fruition and the Stockport Pyramid sits on in the Kings Valley industrial and trading estate next to the M60.

Having seen videos of the inside of the Royal Nawaab it looks very impressive and we're looking forward to going inside for a look around the intriguing building one day.

A view of a side and the entrance

The Stockport Pyramid was completed in 1992 after five years work. Standing 36.6 metres (120 feet) in height, the Stockport Pyramid is somewhat smaller than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands 147 metres (481 feet) high. However, the striking structure has become a familiar sight to people in the town, those passing on the M60, or passengers on trains on the lines across the viaduct.

A view of the pyramid from the other side of the M60

The rear side of the pyramid viewed from the roundabout at Junction 1 of the M50

The view of the pyramid from the bottom of Hollywood Park

Views of the Stockport Pyramid as it was in August 2020

Visit the Royal Nawaab website for more information.

The Stockport Pyramid in 2020

A look at the Stockport Pyramid back in August 2020.

The Stockport Pyramid was home to the Co-operative Bank until 2018 and the building had been empty until it was purchased by Royal Nawaab with plans to turn the structure into a restaurant and banqueting venue. The venture has cost £15 million and is now open!

The building was originally planned to be the first of five pyramids in Stockport's own Valley of the Kings. That plan didn't come to fruition and the Stockport Pyramid sits on in the Kings Valley industrial and trading estate next to the M60.

The Stockport Pyramid was completed in 1992 after five years work. Standing 36.6 metres (120 feet) in height, the Stockport Pyramid is somewhat smaller than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands 147 metres (481 feet) high. However, the striking structure has become a familiar sight to people in the town, those passing on the M60, or passengers on trains on the lines across the viaduct.

Lost Video Shops: B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever, Bolton

B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever, Bolton closed down in July 2024.

We stumbled upon it back in October 2020 and it was fascinating to find a video shop, with actual VHS tapes available to rent out, open!

Here are some photos of B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in October 2020 and June 2021.

Related blog post:

• Video rental shops in the UK (April 2025)

Pubs of Stockport during the coronavirus pandemic

A look at Stopfordian Pubs during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Five years ago today we photographed The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. It became the first of 265 pubs, bars and clubs we visited in the borough between April and the 4th of July 2020 when the first coronavirus pandemic lockdown ended.

Pub number 1 - The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. A lovely Art Deco building. We'd never seen it shuttered before the lockdown. It's since undergone a change of ownership and is now called The Watchmakers Bar & Grill

We visited each of the pubs while on our daily outdoor exercise between Wednesday 1st April and before pubs were allowed to reopen with social distancing measures on Saturday 4th July.

It gave us something to do during the lockdowns and it was interesting to see the variety of architecture, different signage, parts of the town we haven't been to for a long time and other parts of the area we'd never been to. I documented the pubs on Instagram using the #StopfordianPubs tag.

At the 265th pub on our lockdown 'pub crawl'. Not a drop was drunk on our daily walks in April, May, June and July!

The CLUB GOLF pop-up minigolf course in London

Looking back at the CLUB GOLF pop-up minigolf course at Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross, London.

The last new minigolf course I played before the coronavirus pandemic lockdown struck was the CLUB GOLF pop-up minigolf course at Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross, London.

The 9-hole rave-inspired art installation crazy golf course was the 948th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 542nd played.

Artists Baker & Borowski created the 9-hole themed Crazy Golf layout inspired by the rave culture in the King's Cross area back in the 1980's and 1990's.

I shot a round of 23 in my game - the scorecard noted that the maximum score allowed was 63! That would be a seven on each hole!

It was a fun course to play and well spaced out around Coal Drop's Yard.

It's crazy to think we would get to have another game of minigolf in again until August 2020.

Signs of the Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic Times

Today marks five years since the UK entered its first Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic lockdown.

On the 23rd March 2020 the UK effectively ceased normal operations as the country was put into lockdown.

Once we were allowed out photographed as much Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic and Social Distancing signage and notices as we could to document the times.

There is certainly a real variety of warnings, instructions and directional signage to do with social distancing.

Social distancing signs at Cheadle Makers Market

We were amused by this photo Emily took of the social distancing measures in place on an escalator in M&S!

Surely the 2 metre apart distance stickers should be on the moving walkway as well, rather than the static sides of the escalator?

Here are just a few of the signs we snapped.

A bench in Colne, Lancashire

Covid-19 signage at Puttstars Mini Golf in Rochdale

Covid signs at The Happy Shopper convenience store in Sheffield

Social distancing at an abandoned Blockbuster Video store in Manchester 

You can view over 1,800 of the signs at the links below:

• Covid-19 signs 1
• Covid-19 signs 2
• Covid-19 signs 3
• Covid-19 signs 4
• Covid-19 signs 5
• Covid-19 signs 6
• Covid-19 signs 7
• Covid-19 signs 8
• Covid-19 signs 9
• Covid-19 signs 10
• Covid-19 signs 11
• Covid-19 signs 12
• Covid-19 signs 13
• Covid-19 signs 14
• Covid-19 signs 15
• Covid-19 signs 16
• Covid-19 signs 17
• Covid-19 signs 18

It's still possible to see Covid-19 Coronavirus signage and I reckon the remnants of the pandemic will be visible for many years to come.

Related blog posts:

• Signs of the coronavirus pandemic times
• Minigolf in the time of Coronavirus

Crazy Golf in a Boxing Ring at That Funky Golf Place in Birmingham

A look back at our visit to That Funky Golf Place at Becketts Farm in Wythall, Birmingham.

Our first miniature golf course visit of 2020 took us to That Funky Golf Place at Becketts Farm in Wythall, Birmingham. The indoor venue was home to an 18-hole Crazy Golf course. It became the 942nd course we visited overall since September 2006.

The course is now a lost venue.

Happy Back to the Future Day 2024

Today is Back to the Future Day.

Back on the 13th March 2020 I got to see a DeLorean time machine at MediaCity in Salford. How different times were then!

In October 2020 we found a video rental shop in Little Lever, Bolton stocked with loads of VHS tapes. It was like stepping back in time!

I got to see my first DeLorean in real life at the Didsbury & South Manchester Car Show in Didsbury Park back in July 2019