A blog about our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. With a sprinkling of nostalgia and urban exploration for good measure.
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Social distancing at Freeman, Hardy & Willis
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Woolworths ghost signs in Blackpool
A look at some ghost signs on a former Woolworths store on Blackpool promenade.
Two ghost signs for the price of one |
Note the Covid-19 sign on the left. This itself is a bit of a ghost sign these days as little notice is taken of the warning anymore |
I'm a big fan of ghost signs |
Other former Woolworths shops
Friday, September 17, 2021
Happy Shopper in Ormesby St Margaret, Norfolk
Finding a ghost sign at the old Happy Shopper shop in Ormesby St Margaret, Norfolk.
Fletchers Mini Market in Ormesby St Margaret used to be a Happy Shopper shop |
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
A Happy Shopper shop in Lowestoft, Suffolk
A look at a Happy Shopper shop in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
At a Happy Shopper shop in Lowestoft |
Wednesday, September 08, 2021
A Pizza Hut ghost sign in Ipswich
We spotted this modern day ghost sign on a former Pizza Hut restaurant at the Anglia Retail Park in Ipswich, Suffolk last month.
Thursday, September 02, 2021
Toys R Us in Ipswich, Suffolk
A look at the old Toys R Us store in Ipswich, Suffolk.
A sign at the old Toys R Us store at the Interchange Retail Park in Ipswich |
Toys R Us travels
As close as you can get to the Ipswich store |
Working at Toys R Us
Check out my blog posts below about former Toys R Us stores:
- Brighton Hill Retail Park in Basingstoke
- Central Retail Park in Manchester
- Cathedral Retail Park in Norwich
- Deepdale shopping centre in Preston
- Enfield Retail Park in Enfield
- Festival retail park in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
- Gemini Retail Park in Warrington
- Interchange Retail Park at Copdock Mill, Ipswich
- Riverside Retail Park in Nottingham
- St James Retail Park in Northampton
- Teesside Retail Park in Stockton-on-Tees
- Western Esplanade in Southampton
- Wolverhampton Road in Oldbury
- Wyvern Retail Park in Derby
Toys R Us in Norwich, Norfolk
A look at the closed Toys R Us store in Norwich, Norfolk.
Toys R Us in Norwich |
Closed |
Toys R Us travels
At another former store location |
Working at Toys R Us
Toys R Us in Norwich |
Toys R Us at the Cathedral Retail Park in Norwich (August 2021)
The sign on the side of the former store in Norwich |
Check out my blog posts below about former Toys R Us stores:
- Brighton Hill Retail Park in Basingstoke
- Central Retail Park in Manchester
- Cathedral Retail Park in Norwich
- Deepdale shopping centre in Preston
- Enfield Retail Park in Enfield
- Festival retail park in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
- Gemini Retail Park in Warrington
- Interchange Retail Park at Copdock Mill, Ipswich
- Riverside Retail Park in Nottingham
- St James Retail Park in Northampton
- Teesside Retail Park in Stockton-on-Tees
- Western Esplanade in Southampton
- Wolverhampton Road in Oldbury
- Wyvern Retail Park in Derby
The old Happy Shopper shop in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk
Finding an old Happy Shopper shop in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk.
A happy shopper at the, sadly now closed, Ashwellthorpe Stores in Norfolk |
Tuesday, July 06, 2021
Blockbuster Video Express in Filton, Bristol
Finding a ghost sign at the former Blockbuster Video Express in Filton, Bristol.
The former video shop is now a vets |
- Abingdon, Oxfordshire
- Ashton, Bristol
- Barnsley, South Yorkshire
- Basingstoke, Hampshire
- Billingham, Teesside
- Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
- Chester, Cheshire
- Chorley, Lancashire
- Colne, Lancashire
- Fallowfield, Manchester
- Felixstowe, Suffolk
- Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
- Hastings, East Sussex
- Leigh, Greater Manchester
- Luton, Bedfordshire
- Marple, Greater Manchester
- Nuneaton, Warwickshire
- Oldham, Greater Manchester
- Prescot, Lancashire
- Shanklin, Isle of Wight
- Southampton, Hampshire
- Telford, Shropshire
- Wythenshawe, Manchester
Monday, July 05, 2021
Blockbuster Video in Ashton, Bristol
A look at a former Blockbuster Video store in Bristol.
The former video shop is now a gym |
You can still make out the outline of the QuikDrop box at this location |
- Abingdon, Oxfordshire
- Barnsley, South Yorkshire
- Basingstoke, Hampshire
- Billingham, Teesside
- Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
- Chester, Cheshire
- Chorley, Lancashire
- Colne, Lancashire
- Fallowfield, Manchester
- Felixstowe, Suffolk
- Filton, Bristol
- Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
- Hastings, East Sussex
- Leigh, Greater Manchester
- Luton, Bedfordshire
- Marple, Greater Manchester
- Nuneaton, Warwickshire
- Oldham, Greater Manchester
- Prescot, Lancashire
- Shanklin, Isle of Wight
- Southampton, Hampshire
- Telford, Shropshire
- Wythenshawe, Manchester
Thursday, July 01, 2021
Blockbuster Video Express in Shanklin, Isle of Wight
Finding a ghost sign at the former Blockbuster Video Express store in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight.
The former video shop is now a charity shop |
The outline of the old QuikDrop box is still there |
- Abingdon, Oxfordshire
- Barnsley, South Yorkshire
- Basingstoke, Hampshire
- Billingham, Teesside
- Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
- Chester, Cheshire
- Chorley, Lancashire
- Colne, Lancashire
- Fallowfield, Manchester
- Felixstowe, Suffolk
- Filton, Bristol
- Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
- Hastings, East Sussex
- Leigh, Greater Manchester
- Luton, Bedfordshire
- Marple, Greater Manchester
- Nuneaton, Warwickshire
- Oldham, Greater Manchester
- Prescot, Lancashire
- Southampton, Hampshire
- Telford, Shropshire
- Wythenshawe, Manchester
Monday, May 03, 2021
Woolworths in Nuneaton
Finding a Woolworths ghost sign.
Social distancing signage alongside Woolworths branding - not something I ever thought I'd see |
You can see some of Poundland's 'Sorry We Have Closed' messaging on the shopfront. Interestingly one of our local Poundland shops in Stockport has recently closed and where the signage has been removed you can see a British Home Stores ghost sign |
Other Woolies
Saturday, April 10, 2021
The former British Home Stores in Stockport
While having a walk round Stockport yesterday evening it was amazing to see the old ghost sign on the rear of the store had been uncovered!
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Lost shops - Sainsbury's on Warren Street in Stockport town centre
A look at Sainsbury's on Warren Street in Stockport town centre.
Sunday, November 01, 2020
Not a Londis anymore
Spotting a modern day ghost sign in Salford.
While having a walk over the border in Salford City in the summer we spotted a modern day ghost sign for a Londis shop.
The former Londis shop is now the Pure Convenience store and can be found on Viaduct Street in Salford.
It's always intriguing seeing ghost signs and they are more often old and partially faded painted signs on the sides and fronts of buildings.
Londis was created in 1959 and there are over 2,000 Londis shops in the UK. The brand name of Londis came from the words 'London District Stores'.
Visit the Londis website for more information.
Related blog posts:
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Old Littlewoods logo in Ashton-under-Lyne
Finding an old mosaic tile logo at the former Littlewoods shop on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne.
A few doors down from the old Woolworths on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne is a Cash Converters. The doorways to that shop also hold a link to the past.
Past meets present - the decades old Littlewoods logo and the signs of the pandemic times of 2020 |
Before becoming Cash Converters the building was home to Hitchens, a catalogue clearance store.
Another interesting thing about the building is that the street light is attached to the building itself, rather than on a pole.
Many thanks to Richard Eccles on Instagram for help in identifying the logo.
Old Woolworths sign in Ashton-under-Lyne
Finding an old mosaic tile logo at the former Woolworths on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne.
This branch of Woolies opened in 1927. It closed in the 1960s.
The building is now a charity shop for the Wooden Canal Boat Society.
I found out about this old logo on the excellent Woolies Buildings blog.
It's great to look up, down and all around while out exploring as you can see so many interesting things.
You can see still other remnants of Woolworths on the UK high street if you know where to look.
We visited the old Woolworths in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent earlier this month. It's one of the few former Woolworths shops that has not been occupied since the brand's demise in January 2009.
We also spotted an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh on a minigolfing trip back in August 2011. That was the Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park.
Wednesday, September 09, 2020
Orange Wednesday
Last Wednesday was a very orange Wednesday.
It was brilliant to spot this old Orange Mobile shop sign while we were in Oswestry last Wednesday. A relic from another time.
We popped into a charity shop to escape the rain and while browsing spotted this old Orange mobile phone too. I used to sell mobiles from that era when I got my first job at Tandy back in 1996!
Orange launched in 1994 and merged with EE in 2010. The orange brand was continued until 2015 with existing customer plans ceasing in 2019.
Other lost and defunct brands
We've seen a number of old shop signs and retro retail remnants on our travels including Tandy in Hitchin; RadioShack in St Annes on the Sea; Toys R Us stores in Ancoats, Manchester, Warrington, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent and Preston; Woolworths Big W in Brunstane, Edinburgh; Woolworths in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent; BHS in Stockport; Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness; Cooltrader in Blackpool; Happy Shopper in Preston and Blockbuster Video stores in Manchester, Colne, Oldham, Cheadle Hulme, Marple, Hastings, Felixstowe, Telford, Prescot and Chester.Monday, September 07, 2020
Happy Shopper
Finding a Happy Shopper store in Preston.
Short of completing my Time Machine and heading back to 1999 I thought it was nigh on impossible to find an old Happy Shopper shop sign. I guess yesterday was my lucky day.
What a sign |
I just happened to be wearing the right colour jacket for the photo too!
I'm always a happy shopper when I find old branding and interesting signs. We'd gone to Preston to take a look at the abandoned Toys R Us store there |
I remember seeing the Happy Shopper shops and branded products a lot when I was a kid.
The Happy Shopper branding was changed in the year 2000 and I think it lost a lot of its charm and individuality. Many of the former Happy Shopper stores were rebranded as Premier shops.
Happy Shopper does still exist, as both convenience stores and own brand food & drink products.
Do you remember Happy Shopper? Did you have a favourite Happy Shopper product?