The Putter King Chronicles

A look back at the Putter King miniature golf brand.

Kevin Dias - creator of the Putter King miniature golf brand - has recently been looking back on the concept and has published 'The Putter King Chronicles' on his website in five parts.

The Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt.

One of the brand's marketing activities saw a worldwide Putter King Miniature Golf 'Scavenger Hunt' taking place during 2011. People were invited to track down and record items and achievements related to all forms of minigolf across 17 tasks.

The activities in the first Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt had contestants design new minigolf holes and obstacles, play new courses, show off their minigolf ball collections, (re)learn Maths & Physics (in a fun way!) through the Putter King Education Programme, do arts & crafts, hunt for autographs, score holes-in-one, creating minigolf trick-shots and a whole lot more!

In total, there were 1,370 available points to collect. Allan Cox (AUS) won the competition with 960 total points. I finished in second place with 900 total points, and Pat Sheridan (USA) of The Putting Penguin website finished in 3rd place with 585 total points.

The whole Putter King experience was superb and brilliant fun. It's been nice reading about Kevin's journey with the business - and all the bumps, twists and turns in the story!

You can read The Putter King Chronicles at the links below:

• The Putter King Chronicles (Part 1 of 5)
• The Putter King Chronicles (Part 2 of 5)
• The Putter King Chronicles (Part 3 of 5)
• The Putter King Chronicles (Part 4 of 5)
• The Putter King Chronicles (Part 5 of 5)

Related blog posts:

• My Entry for the Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt 2011
• The Putter King

Outdoor Professional Products at The National Outdoor Expo

Axe throwing and retailing with Outdoor Professional Products at The National Outdoor Expo in Birmingham.

I was part of the team supporting and promoting my brother Christopher's business - Outdoor Professional Products - at The National Outdoor Expo held at The NEC in Birmingham last weekend.

All set for the big show

Our stand was part retail store / part inflatable axe throwing game and saw thousands of visitors and customers over the big two-day event!

Christopher hitting the target at the event

Outdoor Professional Products

Outdoor Professional Products has been sourcing cutting-edge products for outdoor professionals since 2009. The business is based in Wymondham, Norfolk and supplies customers locally, and online nationwide.

You can find out more on the Outdoor Professional Products and CEuk websites.

The National Outdoor Expo

The National Outdoor Expo is one of the biggest community meet-ups of the year, celebrating the enjoyment of the outdoors all under one roof.

Marketing and events

Check out my website - RG Marketing & Events - for more information on my marketing and events services.

Get in touch if you'd like to tap into my big bag of marketing knowledge! (Thanks to the team at Deuter for the brilliant photo opportunity on their stand)

Photos from the Outdoor Professional Products stand at The National Outdoor Expo in Birmingham

Bullseye!

Business networking event at Roxy Ball Room Arndale in Manchester

We attended the business networking event at Roxy Ball Room Arndale in Manchester last Thursday.

It was nice to catch-up with Gavriela from the Roxy team and network with fellow guests over quite a few games of pool during the evening!

Roxy Ball Room, and its sister venue King Pins, have hosted several business networking events since opening and we've enjoyed attending the events, such as the King Pins Summer Mixer. They are really nice locations and excellent places to meet other people, have a drink, and enjoy some competitive fun games such as tenpin bowling, crazy pool, minigolf, shuffleboard, darts, ice-free curling and more!

Check out the Roxy Ball Room website for more information on the Manchester Arndale venue, and other locations around the UK.

Merry Skipsmas!

Always brilliant to see the Skip Christmas Tree go up at Cheadle Skip Hire Ltd. in Adswood, Stockport.

Toys R Us at TGJones in the UK

There's a Toys R Us inside the TGJones in Cambridge.

The start of July 2025 marked the end of WHSmith on the British high street after 233 years. Following the sale of the business to Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital earlier this year WHSmith shops have been undergoing a rebrand to the new name of TGJones.

WHSmith on the high street, and travel stores.

There were around 500 high street WHSmith shops, and another 580 travel stores in the UK. The WHSmith shops at railway stations, service stations and airports etc. are not affected by the rebrand as they were not part of the sale.

Toys R Us at TGJones and WHSmith.

As well being inside the rebranded TGJones shops, the relaunched Toys R Us brand can be found in sections of some travel hub WHSmith stores.

Toys R Us returned to the UK shopping scene in 2022 with an online presence and in 2023 with concessions opening inside some WH Smith shops. There are currently over 90 Toys R Us stores open nationwide.

Find out more.

Visit the TGJones, Toys R Us and WHSmith websites for more information on the brands and their locations.

Related blog posts:

• Toys R Us
• TGJones
• WHSmith
• Retail

TGJones in the UK

A look at two new TGJones shops in Leeds.

We saw our first two of the newly branded TGJones shops while in Leeds recently.

The start of July 2025 marked the end of WHSmith on the British high street after 233 years. Following the sale of the business to Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital earlier this year WHSmith shops have been undergoing a rebrand to the new name of TGJones.

A sign at TGJones in Leeds city centre

WHSmith on the high street, and travel stores.

There were around 500 high street WHSmith shops, and another 580 travel stores in the UK. The WHSmith shops at railway stations, service stations and airports etc. are not affected by the rebrand as they were not part of the sale.

Toys R Us at TGJones and WHSmith.

It'll be interesting to see how the sale and rebrand affects the relationship between Toys R Us and the two brands. The relaunched Toys R Us brand can be found in sections of some high street and travel hub WHSmith stores, so I imagine there'll be Toys R Us concessions within both TGJones and WHSmith shops too...

Toys R Us returned to the UK shopping scene in 2022 with an online presence and in 2023 with concessions opening inside some WH Smith shops. There are currently over 90 Toys R Us stores open nationwide.

Find out more.

Visit the WHSmith, TGJones and Toys R Us websites for more information on the brands and their locations.

Related blog posts:

• From WHSmith to TGJones
• WHSmith
• TGJones
• Retail
• Leeds

Free Crazy Golf in Skipton on Friday 1st August

There will be a free-to-play Crazy Golf course in Skipton, North Yorkshire on Friday 1st August.

Skipton BID is organising a day of activities to celebrate Yorkshire Day on Friday 1st August.

One of the activities on offer will be a free-to-play 9-hole Crazy Golf course set-up in the Canal Basin in the town.

Find out more.

You can find out more about the Yorkshire Day celebrations in Skipton on the Welcome to Skipton website.

Summer Mini Golf in Slough

There will be a Summer Mini Golf course event in Slough, Berkshire at the end of this month.

Slough BID have organised a Summer Mini Golf event with a pop-up course set-up in Town Square, Slough on Tuesday 29th, Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st July. 

Find out more.

Visit the Slough BID website for more information.

From WHSmith to TGJones

Changes are afoot on the UK high street with TGJones replacing WHSmith.

The WHSmith branding will be changed to TGJones on the remaining stores UK high street stores.

WHSmith in Oldham (April 2025)

Yesterday marked the end of WHSmith on the British high street after 233 years.

WHSmith shops will be undergoing a rebrand to the new name of TGJones. This follows the sale of the business to Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital earlier this year.

One of the WHSmith travel hub shops that will remain - this one is at Manchester Piccadilly railway station (April 2025)

There are around 500 high street WHSmith shops, and another 580 travel stores in the UK. The WHSmith shops at railway stations, service stations and airports etc. will not be affected by the rebrand as they were not part of the sale.

It'll be interesting to see how long the rebrand takes and what a TGJones store looks like. We've got a WHSmith in Stockport town centre, so I'll be keeping an eye on that.

I wonder how many years after the rebrand we'll still be seeing remnants, relics and ghost signs of the WHSmith brand on the high street?

Have you seen a TGJones store yet?

Toys R Us at TGJones and WHSmith.

Toys R Us at the WH Smith shop in Salisbury in December 2024

It'll also be interesting to see how this affects the relationship between Toys R Us and the two brands. The relaunched Toys R Us brand can be found in sections of some high street and travel hub WHSmith stores, so I imagine there'll be Toys R Us concessions within both TGJones and WHSmith.

Toys R Us at WH Smith at the Trafford Centre in September 2024

Toys R Us returned to the UK shopping scene in 2022 with an online presence and in 2023 with concessions opening inside some WH Smith shops. There are currently over 90 Toys R Us stores open nationwide.

Find out more.

Visit the WHSmith, TGJones and Toys R Us websites for more information on the brands and their locations.

Watermelon Specialists

As today is Summerween - a day to carve a Jack-o-Melon - here's a look at one of my all-time favourite niche businesses.

Logman Ltd - a business on Caledonian Road in London that specialises in watermelons

Free Crazy Golf in Barrow town centre this Saturday - 14th June

There will be a free-to-play pop-up crazy golf course in Barrow town centre on Saturday 14h June.

You can play a free crazy golf course in Barrow town centre between 10am and 4pm this Saturday.

The course is being brought to the town by Barrow Business Improvement District to help encourage people to visit the town.

The crazy golf course is set-up in the town several times a year for various events.

Check out the Barrow Business Improvement District website for more information.

Games and fun at the King Pins Arndale Summer Mixer

Attending the King Pins Arndale Summer Mixer event in Manchester.

I attended the King Pins Arndale Summer Mixer business networking event at King Pins in the Manchester Arndale Centre yesterday for an evening of competitive fun and games.

King Pins Arndale recently celebrated the venue's first birthday and I've previously been there to play the minigolf course on my Crazy World of Minigolf Tour (in October last year in a match-up versus my fellow minigolf adventurer Tom Loftus from the USA), and Emily and I have swung by for drinks and a bite to eat there too.

The indoor Mini Golf course at King Pins

This time I got to play Tenpin Bowling, Ice-Free Curling and Tech Darts - what a triathlon!

I hadn't had a game of tenpin bowling for ages, and while I only got one strike I did hit quite a few nines and spares.

One of the two Ice-Free Curling rinks

I'd never played Ice-Free Curling before and I really enjoyed it.

Ice-Free Curling gets the thumbs-up from me

King Pins has two curling sheets in their rink! Playing in two teams the match got very competitive, with plenty of strategy and tactics brought into play.

A well placed stone

Curling is similar to boules/petanque in the scoring and gameplay - another one of those games that is easy to pick up and play, but very tricky to master!

There was plenty of drama and action in our curling match-up!

We finished the evening with the Tech Darts where we were able to play a range of different games, as well as games of 201 and 501, with the tech taking care of the scoring for us. It was a reminder for me to get my dartboard up at home as I haven't played for quite a while and my 'arrers were pretty rusty!

King Pins is a nicely set-up space with plenty of room to enjoy the games with your group, without knocking into or overlapping with others. While me and the other attendees of the event were playing there were lots of other groups, couples and families visiting the venue for a game or two.

Ten needed...

...double 5 got

As well as the tenpin bowling, tech darts and ice-free curling King Pins Arndale also offers a packed arcade in the basement, shuffleboard (and bank shot shuffleboard and tech shuffle), a batting cage, duck pin bowling, wild west shooting, and karaoke booths!

I'm looking forward to playing more Ice-Free Curling in the future

The darts area has three tech dart boards and plenty of space around the oche

If you haven't yet been, I recommend a visit to King Pins for yourself. Even if you're not playing any games it's a chilled out spot to get a drink and relax for a while during a shopping trip at the Arndale.

As well as the Arndale Centre venue in Manchester, you can find King Pins locations at the Trafford Palazzo in Manchester and Bristol. The new Glasgow King Pins opens later this month, with the Leeds location opening in August, and a Belfast King Pins opening soon!

I'm still yet to have a go on the Hungry Hungry Hippos arcade game - it looks very cool

Check out the King Pins website for more information.

Many thanks to the team at King Pins for organising the free Summer Mixer event. It's always nice to get out and about, meet new people, and network. And it's a real bonus if the venue is as fun as King Pins!

A cool retro shopfront at The iT Store in Canterbury

How cool is this window display at The iT Store in Canterbury?