Bar Billiards at the Marine View Hotel in Worthing

An evening playing Bar Billiards at the Marine View Hotel in Worthing.

While in sunny Worthing for the recent BMGA British Masters Minigolf tournament played at the town's Splash Point Mini Golf we decided to seek out a Bar Billiards table near the seafront for the evening's entertainment.

The Bar Billiards league table at the Marine View Hotel in Worthing

Last year a group of us had played Bar Billiards at The Swan and having looked again on the excellent Bar Billiards table map we spotted that the Marine View Bed & Breakfast on the promenade had a table.

Richard plays a shot in an attempt to score 400-points!

We arrived to a nice welcome and a warm venue to spend the evening playing one of our favourite games. The Marin View hotel bar also has a Dartboard and there is plenty of space around the Bar Billiards to play, little wonder as it's a tournament quality table and part of the Worthing & District Bar Billiards League.

John Moore fires a rocket of a shot against Richard

We had some great matches amongst ourselves and it was all good preparation for the upcoming Minigolfer's Bar Billiards competition and 'do' in London! There were some nice high scores (for us) of over a thousand points and a few really good breaks. These were however unfortunately followed by some calamatous wipe-outs! It's still a great fun pub game and if you've never played it then I do suggest you find your nearest table and give it a go.

Emily begins a game against John Moore

If you're in Worthing then you should definitely give the Marine View hotel bar a visit, it's very close to the town centre, the Bar Billiards table is in great condition and plays very nicely. We'll be heading back for another game there in the future.

Links:
- Bar Billiards-related Blog Posts on the Ham & Egger Files
- The All England Bar Billiards' Association (AEBBA)
- Worthing & District Bar Billiards League
- Marine View B&B
- Worthing Blog Posts

Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in Pub Beer Gardens

Details of Pub Miniature Golf courses we've found on our travels

On our travels around the UK we've found Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses at a few Pubs along the way. Though not as many as we'd have liked!

Here are the links to the Pub Miniature Golf courses we've visited and played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour to date:

#10 Horse & Harrow Pub, West Hagbourne, Oxfordshire - Crazy Golf - Re-visited 2011

One of the holes at The Horse & Harrow Pub Crazy Golf in 2006

#11 The Green Man Pub, Stanford, Bedfordshire - Crazy Golf

A view of the now long-gone Crazy Golf course at The Green Man Pub

#110 Tudor Rose Inn, Fordingbridge, Hampshire - Miniature Golf - Update: October 2012 - the beer garden has had a makeover and the course is no longer there.

Playing a hole on the very good Miniature Golf course at The Tudor Rose Inn

#168 Maldon Grey Pub, Sudbury, Suffolk - Crazy Golf

A double-humped hole at The Maldon Grey Pub in Sudbury

#249 The Sutton Staithe Hotel, near Stalham, Norfolk - Moosey's Miniature Golf

Playing on the course in the beer garden of The Sutton Staithe Hotel

- The Pitch & Putt Inn - North Shore Holiday Centre, Skegness, Lincolnshire - Pitch & Putt Course (did not play) and a Miniature Golf Course (#233)

- Not played (visit #223 overall) - The Dolphin Pub, Melbourn, Cambridgeshire - Derelict 4-hole Crazy Golf - Re-visit 2011

- Not played (Pub under reconstruction) - Aber Falls Tavern, Abergwyngregyn, Wales - Crazy Golf

- Not played (too early, Pub not open) - The Woolpack Inn, Smeeth, Kent - Crazy Golf

- Not played (no course there any more) - The Bell Pub, Wendens Ambo, Saffron Walden, Essex - Mini Golf

- Not played (hotel guests only) - The Portobello Gold Pub & Hotel, London - Mini Golf on a Roof Terrace

- A visit to the Smallest Pub on the Planet - now has a Mini-Minigolf Course in the 'Games Area' - see "A Miniature Golf course at the Smallest Pub on the Planet"

In June 2011 Uncle Stuart's Brewery at Wroxham Barns in Norfolk brewed a special commemorative beer for the BMGA English Open - it was called the 19th Hole!

In February 2016 we played the Plonk Golf course in the beer garden at the Duke of Edinburgh pub in Brixton, London.

Link to other courses we've visited and played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Looking at the course lists on the excellent MiniatureGolfer.com website there are a few other Pub courses in England too.

Our friends at The Putting Penguin in the USA have also played some Mini-Golf courses in pubs and have set up courses at the Cambridge House Brew Pub in Connecticut!

Other Pub-related Blog Posts on The Ham & Egger Files:

- 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships at The Triangle Tavern in Lowestoft, Suffolk

- 2011 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships at The Knights Templar Pub on Chancery Lane, London

- 2010 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships at The Durell Arms Pub in Fulham, London

- Darts in London - The Jolly Anglers Pub in Wood Green, London

- Another new game played – Bar Billiards

Mini Golf on a Roof Terrace at The Portobello Gold Hotel & Crazy Golf at Alexandra Palace

Ahead of our trip to London last Saturday for the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships I had a quick look online to see if London is home to any new Minigolf courses since my last visit and online search. I found out it is!

In fact I spotted two new Miniature Golf courses in London.

According to the eventful website the Portobello Gold Hotel has a Mini Golf course on its roof and calls it an 'eccentric touch'.

We headed along to the Portobello Gold pub and hotel and asked about the Mini Golf at the bar, only to be told that the course is on one of the hotel room balconies, so unfortunately we couldn't have a play of it. We did however get warmed-up with a few lunchtime drinks ahead of the evening's big sporting event at the RPS Championships!

The other course I found on my web search is at Alexandra Palace and is an 18-hole Crazy Golf course. We didn't have time to get along to have a game there, but have added it to our 'to visit' list.

Alexandra Palace is also home to what I have heard is a very good Pitch & Putt course, and a Putting Green. both of which are run by Golfwise, a company which runs a number of Pitch & Putt courses around the country. We've visited their site in Chelmsford, in 2009, and we had time to play a few of the holes on the course, which was in great condition and very testing. Back in 2010 we also visited the site in Upminster which is still currently closed. On our roadtrip to Lincolnshire earlier this year we ran out of time and didn't manage to play their other Pitch & Putt course on South Parade in Skegness.

Rleated blog posts:
- Miniature Golf & Crazy Golf Courses in London
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour