Showing posts with label Camden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camden. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Crazy Golf in London - Clarence Way, Camden

A look at the Crazy Golf course in Camden.

Back in 2012 the Crazy Golf course in Clarence Way, Camden became the 303rd course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. However, we had first visited the course in October 2009 and in the time between we'd seen only a handful of people playing the layout.

Crazy Golf in London - Clarence Way, Camden
Emily doesn't work a million miles away from the Crazy Golf course in Camden and snapped this photo of the course this evening. Ironically she has never putted on the course

There is a bit of a dearth of permanent Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf courses in London. We've visited most of the capital's courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, and it's pleasing to see a few new permanent courses and a number of pop-up Crazy Golf courses opening in London.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Camden
- Minigolf Course Visit - Clarence Way Crazy Golf in Camden, London
- Finally Playing the Camden Crazy Golf Course
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter. You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Finally Playing the Camden Crazy Golf Course

A Minigolf re-visit - this time with a Putter and Minigolf Balls!

After competing in The Brewmaster's Open at the Camden Town Brewery we still had an appetite for some more Minigolf and as Alan 'Stormin' Norman had brought his kitbag along it meant we were able to play the Crazy Golf course at Clarence Wayon the Castlehaven Estate in Camden, London!

I've been to the course a number of times before and only seen people on it a couple of times.

We decided that in our contest we'd have a Doubles Match between me and Simon 'Practice' Hall - as the Luton Minigolf Club - versus Seth 'Clockwork Orange' Thomas and Alan 'Stormin' Norman - the London Minigolfers.

To decide which team would tee-off first the team captains had a game of Rock Paper Scissors - I won!!!

The Minigolfers and the Minigolf Putter. From l-r Simon 'Practice' Hall, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, Alan 'Stormin' Norman, Seth 'Clockwork Orange' Thomas

Using Alan's Minigolf Putter and one ball that was accurately 'tested'* on hole one I teed-off and scored a two. Simon stepped up and also scored a two. The Thomas-Norman tandem also scored four as a team to tie the hole.

* the practice involved throwing a Ravensburg Minigolf Ball down the lane of hole one - it went in for an ace!!!

Alan 'Stormin' Norman in action

The London Minigolfers took the lead on hole two, scoring a four, with me and Simon scoring a five. The team went two-up at the fourth hole, before Simon and I won back a hole at the fifth.

Playing the Cannon Hole

With our team needing to win the hole at the eighth to keep the match alive our team scored a five, following Seth's hole-in-one and Alan's two for their team score of three. I actually managed to get the ball in the hole with my tee-shot, unfortunately it wasn't the first shot! See the 'Caption competition' photo below.

Minigolf Caption Contest!

Simon 'Practice' Hall plays a second shot on hole 9


By playing the course it became the 303rd played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Related Blog Posts:

Friday, August 10, 2012

Minigolf Report - The Brewmaster’s Open Mini Golf Tournament at the Camden Town Brewery


10th August 2012
Press Information
For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report from The Brewmaster’s Open in Camden

On Saturday 4th August Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried were joined by fellow Lutonian Simon Hall in competing in The Brewmaster’s Open Minigolf Competition at the Camden Town Brewery in London.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
The 'Pro' and 'Semi-Pro' Minigolfers at the entrance to The Brewmaster’s Open Mini Golf course. from l-r 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, Christopher 'Beya' Gottfried, Alan 'Stormin' Norman (seated on barrell), Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried, Seth 'Clockwork Orange' Thomas, Simon 'Practice' Hall

The Brewmaster’s Open tournament was played on an UrbanCrazy Miniature Golf course that had been built inside the Camden Town Brewery. Players had to putt around Beer Keg obstacles placed over the 5-hole layout.

Over 200 players competed during the event, with the best score of the day being a round of 8(-2) by London’s Alan Norman to take the first prize of “A lot of Camden Town Brewery’s Beer!” Richard Gottfried finished in tied second place with London’s Seth Thomas after both players had scored a round of 9(-1).

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
Richard Gottfried lines-up a Putt on hole 1 at The Brewmaster's Open - he would 'Ace' the hole in each round

As well as the overall leaderboard competition six British Minigolf Association (BMGA) Tour Pro players competed in a three-round contest. Alan Norman stormed to victory with a total of 28(-2), with Seth Thomas runner-up with 30(par). Richard Gottfried took third place with a total of 31(+1) following rounds of 10, 9 and 12.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
The top-3 'Pro' players at The Brewmaster's Open - from l-r 'Squire' Richard Gottfried (3rd), Alan 'Stormin' Norman (1st), Seth 'Clockwork Orange' Thomas (2nd)

Richard Gottfried said “The Brewmaster’s Open was one of the strangest Minigolf events I’ve played in. The course was really nice to play and the hospitality of the organisers at the Camden Town Brewery was top notch. My third round was a bit shaky which put paid to my chances of winning, but I had a great time at the competition.”

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
The 'Pro' & 'Semi-Pro' Minigolfers during a rest break at the Camden Town Brewery Brewmaster's Open tournament

Simon Hall was making his Minigolf competition debut and finished in tied third place on the overall leaderboard with his best round of 10(par). In the ‘Pro’ contest he was tied for fifth with Emily Gottfried. Southsea’s Christopher Gottfried was fourth with a score of 35(+5).

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
Christopher Gottfried plays hole 5 at The Brewmaster’s Open

Simon Hall said “What a crazy introduction to a Minigolf competition! Who knew you could organise a Minigolf Competition in a Brewery.”

Ends

Links:

Related Blog Posts:

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London

Playing the 302nd course on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Mini Golf in a Brewery!

On Saturday 4th August 2012 we headed along to the Camden Town Brewery in London as we'd been told about a Minigolf competition taking place there!

My Minigolf rival and sometimes team mate Kevin Moseley had tweeted me to let me know about the event and so we made sure to add the date to the diary. We've played a few Crazy Golf courses in pub beer gardens on our travels, but never heard of a Miniature Golf course being set-up in a brewery!

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
A lot of beer kegs and the tee-off area of hole 1 at Camden Town Brewery's Mini Golf course

From 12pm to 8pm on the 4th August the team at the Camden Town Brewery were running "The Brewmaster's Open" Mini Golf competition on a five-hole Minigolf course supplied by UrbanCrazy.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
A view of the 'Brewmaster's' ingenious Minigolf course layout

The unique venue and course layout was a real attraction and the price of a round of Minigolf also including a pint at the end. "Lots of free beer" was the prize on offer to the winner at the end of the day, with a free case of beer to any player managing a perfect round of five holes-in-one!

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
Southsea's Number One Minigolfer Christopher Gottfried is impressed with the Mini Golf course

Our group of six arrived at 2pm to find the course record had been set at 10. As well as competing in the overall Brewmaster's Open we had decided to play a three-round 'Pro / Semi-Pro' event amongst our group to make a day of it. The Camden Town Brewery had a great atmosphere, with a busy bar, plenty of seating inside & out, and the Olympics on a big screen TV. It was a nice setting for a few hours of Minigolfing and Drinking.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
The group of Crazy Golfing 'Pro' Players. From l-r Richard Gottfried, Christopher Gottfried, Alan Norman (seated on keg), Emily Gottfried, Seth Thomas, Simon Hall

Our group split into three groups of two for the first two-rounds, with the final round to be played in reverse leaderboard order in two groups of three players.


Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
I play hole 5 at The Brewmaster's Open Minigolf Tournament

Having scored an 8(-2) in round one Alan 'Stormin' Norman set the new course record and had gained a two-shot lead over me and three-shots over Seth 'Clockwork Orange' Thomas. He followed up the 8 with a 9(-1) to retain his lead heading into round three.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
I celebrate yet another hole-in-one on hole 1 at The Brewmaster's Open

Following a 'refreshment break' in the bar of the brewery we headed back onto the course to complete the 'Pro' contest and also see if Alan was still at the top of the leaderboard in the overall day-long contest. Indeed he was.

The 'Pro' and 'Semi-Pro' Minigolfers take a 'refreshment break' at the Camden Town Brewery during The Brewmaster's Open tournament
The 'Pro' & 'Semi-Pro' Minigolfers take a 'refreshment break' at the Camden Town Brewery during The Brewmaster's Open tournament

The final round saw Alan score an 11(+1) to take the victory in our contest, I scored a disappointing 12(+2) and slipped to third place, with Seth Thomas shooting a 10(par) to move up one place to second.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
Alan 'Stormin' Norman plays hole 2

My brother Christopher finished in fourth place, scoring rounds of 13, 11 and 11 for a total of 35(+5) and showing the experience he gained in the one and only BMGA Tour event he ever played in - the 2008 Brighton Open.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
Christopher Gottfried playing hole 5 at The Brewmaster's Open

Emily and Simon 'Practice' Hall tied for fifth place with a score of 36(+6). Simon, playing in his first tournament, did manage a best round of 10(par) to earn a place on the Brewmaster's Open Leaderboard in tied third place!

The Brewmaster's Open course and competition had one of the best scorecards produced for it - a Beermat advertising the event along with a scorecard on the reverse! A really great piece of Miniature Golf ephemera.

Some pints and a beermat advertising The Brewmaster's Open
Some pints and a beermat advertising The Brewmaster's Open

After the final round we headed back to the bar for some celebratory drinks and food. As we were leaving we had to grab a final look at the leaderboard and saw that Alan had been joined at the top of the leaderboard with another player who had scored an 8! Over 200 people played the course during the day and luckily for Alan no-one managed to better the 8 during the day, so he became the Champion of the first-ever Brewmaster's Open!

I was happy with my best round of 9 to tie for the runner-up spot along with Seth Thomas and a few other players.

Mini Golf at the Camden Town Brewery in London
Seth 'Clockwork Orange' Thomas plays hole 3 while Luton's third best Minigolfer Simon 'Practice' Hall looks on

The Camden Town Brewery is well worth a visit and you can find it located under the railway arches of Kentish Town West Overground Station.

Links:

Related Minigolf and Beer Blog Posts:

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Bar Billiards and a little bit of Mini-Golf in London

A hunt for three Bar Billiards tables and a revisit to Camden’s Crazy Golf course

While in London on Monday 27th February I thought I’d take the opportunity to check out some of the Bar Billiards tables in pubs in the city.

Prior to my trip I had a look on the excellent Bar Billiards table map, put together by AEBBA.

I saw there were well over twenty tables within easy reach and I planned to get to at least three of the tables on my Barmy Bar Billiards Trail.

My first stop was at the Electricity Showrooms pub in Hoxton.

The Electricity Showrooms pub in Hoxton

Upon arriving I asked the barman if they still had a table, he said they did, but it was “just for decoration”. I had a look at the table and one of the other barmen said he thought it still worked and to put a quid in to give it a go. I asked if they had any cues, they didn’t!? The table was also peg-less! However, the table did appear to be in good condition and the felt/baize was all intact.

The Bar Billiards table at the Electricity Showrooms pub in Hoxton

While chatting to the second barman he also mentioned they have a dartboard too. One for the Capital Arrows London Dart Board List perhaps.

The Dart Board in the Electricity Showrooms pub in Hoxton

My next stop was to Kings Cross and the King Charles I pub. Unfortunately on a Monday it’s not open until 5pm. I decided to head back later in the evening after a visit to Camden.

After refuelling with a new Gluten Free Chicken Salad Sandwich from the Kentish Town Sainsbury's and spotting a sign for an Eternit supplier (sadly un-minigolf related) and prior to visiting the next pub Emily and I had a wander to Camden Market. On our way there had a look to see if the Clarence Way Crazy Golf course was still there. We've previosuly visited in October 2009, May 2011 and August 2011. It is still there and remains unplayed by us on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. The sign at the course has had some graffiti added to it since our last visit!

The Clarence Way Crazy Golf sign

The Clarence Way Crazy Golf course in Camden

We then set off to find the Fiddler’s Elbow pub for the first game of Bar Billiards. We found the pub, but finding the entrance was trickier. Eventually we spotted a door that let us in and had a hunt for the table. The pub no longer has one. We decided to have a drink anyway, the pub had some great 80’s tunes playing, including Ghost Town by The Specials – the pub was something of a ghost town as there was just us two and a couple of other punters in there!

The Fiddler's Elbow pub in Camden

Although there wasn’t a Bar Billiards table there I did notice a poster for a band that our friend Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd and his band, Monkish, knows. You can check out the website of the naughtily named band here. Brad told me he has played at the Fiddler's Elbow music venue three times before and never seen a Bar Billiards table.

A poster for an upcoming performance from a band at the Fiddler's Elbow pub

Me, LIVE at the FIDDLERS!

With a thirst for Bar Billiards unsatisfied we headed back down the Northern Line to go to the King Charles I. Prior to that though we made a stop off at the Hurricane Room on Grays Inn Road as a quick web search while in the Fiddler’s had shown that they had a Bar Billiards table.

When we enquired within we found they didn’t.

The Hurricane Room - no Bar Billiards there, but lots of Pool and Snooker tables

On a wall outside we did however spot a poster for an upcoming Chess Boxing tournament!

Chess Boxing in London!

We eventually reached the King Charles I and through the window I spotted some illuminated green baize! The pub did indeed have a Bar Billiards table and no one was playing on it when we arrived!

The King Charles I pub - not yet open on my first visit

The pub is fairly small but the table is very playable (one of the great things about Bar Billiards is the minimal amount of space required). The table was of the 3-pin/peg variety and was in good condition, albeit with a slight tear on the felt just to the right of the black peg.

The Bar Billiards table at the King Charles I - with lots of balls in play!

The King Charles I even had its own ‘House Rules’ for the Bar Billiards table, with some interesting rules on fouls! More on that later...

The 'House Rules' at the King Charles I

The pub was nice and warm, with a real fire on the go, and there was a nice atmosphere in the wood panelled pub. There were certainly some interesting decorations in the bar , with lots of mounted animal heads on the walls. One large Deer head stared at you while you played on the Bar Billiards table!

Emily and I decided to play a best-of-three game match.

In game one I managed to reach a score of 450 points before wiping-out with a black-peg knock down, with Emily winning 370 points to nil.

Emily plays a shot on the Bar Billiards table at the King Charles I

In game two I won with a score of 440 points to nil. Emily had racked up a nice break of 420 points, however this was lost by knocking down a white peg. Emily had made a claim that I perpetrated a foul on her during play. If there was an independent Umpire for the match I may of been declared as a ‘perpetrator of a foul’ due to 'Goosing', but as we had no referee, the loss of points stood.

In between games we noticed that the pub also has a selection of board games for customers to play. I spotted there was a Shove Ha’penny board behind the bar and we saw some of the other board games atop the jukebox. They included Scrabble, Travel Scrabble and a 1000-piece Jigsaw Puzzle. Emily was tempted to break out the Jigsaw puzzle, but being as we were part way through a match and with a visit to ‘Jigfest’ coming up soon we continued with the Bar Billiards.

The Shove Ha'penny Board behind the bar

The third and final deciding game in our match saw me come out the winner with a score of 200 to Emily’s 170. The closely fought match was slightly notable as I managed to clear the last two balls from the table without the game being decided by a sudden-death last-peg shoot-out as has been the norm in our matches to date. I scored a 20 and a 50 to close-out the game.

Me playing Bar Billiards at the King Charles I

The ‘Committee Board’, above the scoreboard next to the table, shows the ‘Table Record’ held by a Julian Coles, which was made on the 13th of October 2009 and stands at 3,040 points. Including a break of 2,860.

After the main-event we threw another pound in the table and had a bit of ‘training’ before a five minute game. In this quick match I won with a grand total of 20 points.

Commenting on the evening out Emily summed things up by saying “We had a drink in ‘that’ pub, you had a sandwich, we did quite well.”

Links:
- All England Bar Billiards' Association
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Previous Bar Billiards Blog Posts
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London

Monday, August 22, 2011

Crazy Golf Update - People Play Minigolf on the Course in Camden!

While in London recently we walked passed the 9-hole Crazy Golf course in Clarence Way, London and for the first time on any visit to the course we saw people actually playing Crazy Golf on it!

We had a chat with the group who were playing a fancy dress minigolf tournament (which involved drinking too). Each players Putter had to be related to what they were dressed as, for example one player was dressed as a Baseball Player so used a Baseball Bat, another was a Janitor and was playing with a Broom, and another man was dressed as a Granny so used a Crutch to play with!

An interesting way to spend a Saturday and certainly one of the craziest minigolf competitions I've ever witnessed.


Visit to the course 2009

Revisit to the course 2011

The Crazy Golf Course Of Camden Town - article at Londonist

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Camden Clarence Way Crazy Golf - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Revisit

I made a revisit to the Clarence Way Crazy Golf course in Camden, London last week. It's still there, and not much has changed.

Clarence Way Crazy Golf course in Camden, North London

Clarence Way Crazy Golf course in Camden, North London


View other courses visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Link to a blog post about other Mini Golf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf courses in and around London.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Minigolf Course Visit - Clarence Way Crazy Golf in Camden, London

On Wednesday 28th October we headed to London on the hunt for Crazy Golf courses and found the 12-hole Crazy Golf course on the Clarence Way Housing Estate in Camden.

Clarence Way Crazy Golf course in Camden, North London
Clarence Way Crazy Golf course in Camden, North London
The course was the same design/build as those in Swansea, however the course in Camden was only for use by the residents of the estate and their visitors. No one was playing!

Clarence Way Crazy Golf course in Camden, North London

View other courses visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Link to a blog post about other Mini Golf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf courses in and around London.