New minigolf course opening in Edinburgh

There will be a minigolf layout at the new Level X venue in Edinburgh.

Visit the Level X website for more information.

It'll be another new location for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Mini Golf at Lane7 in Edinburgh

The new Lane7 venue at St James Quarter in Edinburgh will soon be home to a mini golf course.

The new Lane7 location at the St James Quarter shopping and entertainment centre in Edinburgh is already home to ten-pin bowling, ping pong, darts, shuffleboard and more.

Check out the Lane7 website for more information.

Mini Golf at Lane7

We've played minigolf at Lane7 in Newcastle upon Tyne on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and are looking forward to playing at their other venues in the future.

Mini Golf at Lane7

Portal Minigolf opening in Edinburgh

A new minigolf course is opening in Edinburgh.

There are plans for a new minigolf course to open in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Portal Minigolf will be a 1980's themed indoor layout.

Visit the Portal Minigolf website for more information.

We're looking forward to getting back up to Scotland on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.

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Fore Play Crazy Golf goody bags

We love seeing minigolf merchandise and the team at Fore Play Crazy Golf in Glasgow are offering the first 100 guests at the course a 'Baw Bag' containing a selection of items, including a branded face mask.

🎉 Be one of our first 100 golfers and get a Fore Play goody bag! 🎉

To welcome youse back on August 1st, our first 100 guests at our Glasgow venue will get their own Baw Bag.

Dinnae wait - you'll have to be fast!#ForePlayCrazyGolf #ReadyToPlay #ForePlayGlasgow #Glasgow pic.twitter.com/teGA8nEFFj

— Fore Play Crazy Golf (@4PlayCrazyGolf) July 24, 2020

Fore Play Crazy Golf reopens its doors on Saturday 1st August.

Visit the Fore Play Crazy Golf website for more information on the Glasgow and Edniburgh venues.

We're looking forward to playing at both locations on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future. Both sites opened since our last visits to the Scottish cities.

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Woolworths in Brunstane, Edinburgh

A look at an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh.

The abandoned Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh in August 2011

My recent revisit to the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester reminded me of the old Woolworths shopfront we saw in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent last November. That in turn prompted me to look in our archives for the photos I took of the abandoned Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park next to the railway station in Brunstane, Edinburgh, Scotland from 2011.

A closer look at the old entrance

Brunstane railway station on the left is dwarfed by the old abandoned Woolworths store on the right

The building is now home to The Range.

The last Woolworths

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009 so we were amazed to see the sign was still up at the Stoke-on-Trent store last year.

Ghost signs

We see a lot of ghost signs on shops and building on our travels. Many of these are from decades ago and they help tell the story of an area.

Unfortunately in the coming months and years we are likely to see a number of other brands disappear.

In addition to these Woolworths shops and the Blockbuster Video store we've seen the remnants of retail brands from recent years including Tandy in Hitchen, RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes and Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness.

Do you have a favourite brand from years gone by? Are the remains of an old brand still visible on a building where you live or work? Do let me know.

Woolworths Pick n' Mix

Interestingly there's a Woolworths-themed miniature golf hole at Teezers Retro Golf course in Coventry, we played that course in April last year.

A loop-di-loop obstable on a Pick n' Mix minigolf hole

Fore Play Crazy Golf heading to Edinburgh

A new Fore Play Crazy Golf course is opening in Edinburgh.

The team at Fore Play Crazy Golf in Scotland will be opening their second venue with an adults-only pop-up minigolf site in Edinburgh this Spring.

The original Fore Play Crazy Golf course opened in Glasgow in 2018.

The new Edinburgh course will be a pop-up and opens this Spring.

In addition to the Edinburgh-themed Crazy Golf element the venue will feature a bar and street food.

Visit the Fore Play Crazy Golf website for more information.

Related blog posts:
- Fore Play Crazy Golf
- Edinburgh

Scrapheap Golf opening in Edinburgh

New indoor Scrapheap Golf course opening in Edinburgh.

A new indoor minigolf venue is opening in Edinburgh next month.

The venue will be home to two 9-hole courses - 'Wizard Golf' and 'Scrappy Doo'.

The opening date is Friday 4th October 2019.

More info can be found on the Scrapheap Golf website.

Related blog posts:
- Edinburgh
- Crazy Golf
- Indoor Crazy Golf

New indoor Adventure Golf course in Edinburgh

There's a new Volcano Falls indoor Adventure Golf course in Edinburgh.

While on holiday in Edinburgh Emily spotted this bit of bus advertising about the new Volcano Falls indoor Adventure Golf course that has opened at Fountain Park in Edinburgh.

As part of the launch activity the course ran a Spot the Bus promotion

We've played the Volcano Falls course at Xscape in Castleford on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Popeye, Bluto and Olive - in Edinburgh

I never knew Popeye, Bluto and Olive lived in Scotland.

What a great pair of bootleg businesses Emily spotted while up in Edinburgh.

It's a good job Station India is in the middle of the two establishments else it'd be all out war

You can find both businesses on Portobello High Street in Edinburgh.

While in Camber Sands back in 2010 we found this legit Popeye Arm Wrestling Machine in the beachside amusement arcade.

Related blog posts:
- Bootlegs
- Edinburgh
- Popeye

Hillbilly Shooting Shack in Portobello & Joppa - Edinburgh's seaside

While on our mini-holiday to Edinburgh we found a Hillbilly Shooting Shack in one of the two amusement arcades in Portobello & Joppa.

Other blog posts about Shooting Shacks

The amusement arcade looked like it used to be much bigger and we also found a sign that pointed us in the direction of the now non-existent Fun Park.



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No Crazy Golf in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

While in Edinburgh we were chatting to a stallholder at the Antique Market in the Grassmarket and she told us there used to be a Crazy Golf course in Princes Street Gardens.

We went for a wander through the park but couldn't find one.

We did however find the oldest pub in Edinburgh - The White Hart Inn, which was established in the Grassmarket in 1516. We sampled a few Whisky's while we were there too.

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Minigolf Putting Green at Powderhall Bowling Green, St Mark's Park, Edinburgh

During the break in the over 60s and over 50s British Cycle Speedway events taking place at the Edinburgh Falcons Club at Redbraes Park on Saturday 20th August 2011 we popped to the Powderhall Bowling Club, which uses one of its three Bowling Greens as a 9-hole Putting Course!

Time was getting on and as the course closed at 5pm the man at the course let us have a round on the proviso that we played quickly!

The Putting course was on a Bowling Green and while pretty flat was still fairly tricky in gauging speed and weight of the shots.

With time of the essence Emily decided she didn’t want to play so it was left to be a battle between me and my Midlands Minigolf Club team mate (and fellow 2008 BMGA British Club Champion) John ‘Thighs’ Moore.

After eight speedy holes, with the man watching us as he collected the flags in after we’d completed each hole, the scores were level with me and John scoring 3, 2, 3, 3, 3 2, 2, 2 and 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2 respectively.

I was first up to play the ninth hole and scored a dreadful four. John, the 2006 BMGA British Champion, stepped up and scored a two to take the victory 22 to 24.

The course at St Mark’s Park was the 266th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

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Cycle Speedway in Edinburgh - The British Veterans over 50s and over 60s Individual Championships

Blog post about spectating at a Cycle Speedway in Edinburgh - The British Veterans over 50s and over 60s Individual Championships in August 2011.

On Saturday 20th August 2011 we flew to Edinburgh for a nice weekend away. We’d managed to get the flights on easyJet incredibly cheap via a very good use of our Nectar Points and with us being on the first flight of the day we arrived in the city centre at 8.30am.

Ahead of the trip we’d spoken to our friend, Midlands Minigolf Club team mate and minigolf rival John Moore who told us he was also going to be up in Edinburgh on the Saturday and that he was heading to a great sporting event – Cycle Speedway!

Ever on the lookout for new and unusual sports to take part in, or spectate at, we met up with John and headed to Edinburgh’s Redbraes Park (home of the Edinburgh Falcons Club) and the British over 50s and over 60s Individual Championships of Cycle Speedway!

With ‘Tapes-up’ at 2pm we arrived in time to see the introduction of the riders who would be competing in the first event of the afternoon, the over 60s Individual British Championships.

According to the Edinburgh Falcons Cycle Speedway Club website the sport of Cycle Speedway came into being in the late 1940’s and grew out of Motorbike Speedway. Races take place on oval tracks 60-90m long and racers ride around the circuit in an anti-clockwise direction. In each race four riders race each other over four laps with the winner picking up four points, runner-up three, third-place two and fourth place picks up one point.

There was some great strategy in use in the races with riders battling to get the best of the track positioning and a few restarts due to some physical contact between riders. We saw a couple of crashes too. The event was great fun and free to attend! There were programmes for sale as well as T-shirts, along with refreshments. If you’ve never been to a Cycle Speedway event (and I’m guessing a lot of readers haven’t) it’s well worth a watch.

Full results and report from the British Cycle Speedway over 50s and over 60s Individual Championships

Edinburgh Falcons website

Photos from the over 50s competition

Photos from the over 60s competition - with us here and here

During the interval between the over 60s and over 50s events we went to a nearby pub for a quick drink and then on to St Mark’s Park and the Powderhall Bowling Club, which uses one of its three Bowling Greens as a 9-hole Putting Course! This would become the 266th Miniature Golf course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

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