Toys R Us ceased trading in the UK in April 2018. I worked there back in the year 2000.
It's always interesting to see signs from lost brands
This store is in Preston, Lancashire.
Toys R Us at the Deepdale shopping centre in Preston
Apart from one ghost sign on the side of the building where the raised letters have been removed it looks like it could've still been open.
Ghost signs
A busy car park
A colourful store front
Welcome to Toys R Us
This store is now closed
The entrance
A nice sign on the right of the building
At the exit
The exit doors
A piece of ephemera
Remnants
A branded electricity substation
There have been plans for the old Toys R Us at the Deepdale shopping centre to be converted into a gym or a Sports Direct. But at the moment it's still there as something of a time capsule.
Retail parks, malls and shopping centres have become a popular location for minigolf courses and other activities as part of retailtainment offerings. This shoppertainment offers customers something extra to shopping and dining, as well as increasing footfall and dwell time at a venue.
A look at two benches in the time of social distancing.
We saw a few different social distancing signs on our walk round Colne in Lancashire on Sunday afternoon, including these two on benches in the town centre.
My next mini 'tickable list' urban exploration challenge taps into my interest in ghost signs, shops, retail marketing and old brands. Ever since I found the remnants of the Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester last October I've been amazed to see the brand still has a lingering presence in other places too.
My old local Blockbuster was on Park Street in Luton, Bedfordshire and while it is long-gone I still remember the amount of time I spent in it when I was a student. I built up quite a collection of big-box ex-rental VHS tapes from there in the early noughties.
Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013 so it's amazing that there are still clearly visible remnants of the brand on the high street and on retail parks almost seven years later.
Blockbuster Video and Express stores
Blockbuster Video entered the UK video rental market in 1989 following the purchase of Ritz Video.
I remember going to the Ritz Video shop on the Peachcroft Estate in my home town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire back in the late 80's and early 90's. That store became a Blockbuster and I rented some classics from there back in the day. Check out this post from the excellent Abingdon Blog to see a photo of the shuttered shop in 2014.
Blockbuster Video Express stores were somewhat smaller than regular Blockbuster shops. Although all of the stores expanded to include video game rentals. Old signage for the games area has been clearly visible on both the Fallowfield and Colne stores I've been to.
In 2013 there were over 500 Blockbuster locations in the UK. Throughout that year the number dwindled until October when only 264 shops remained. On the 16th December 2013 all stores ceased operations.
Blockbuster Video Express in Colne
While looking online for nearby places to have a wander during the local lockdown here in the north west I stumbled upon the Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, Lancashire.
It's crazy to see the store in person as Colne's main street is quite a busy thoroughfare and the prominently positioned Blockbuster was the only empty shop we saw in that particular part of the town.
You should've seen the size of the fine for taking back Police Academy almost seven years late. And I hadn't rewound it
A view of the store from Market Street
The old QuikDrop box has been sealed and painted over
The box is still in place though
It's always nice to see old CRT TVs in place
A view of the right hand side of the store. The Häagen-Dazs fridge is still there
The left side, till area and games wall. Note the Coca-Cola and Ben & Jerry's fridges towards the back of the store too
The games wall
A letter about the Administration. That was a good printer and high quality paper to have lasted so long. The Blockbuster branded tape looks in great condition as well
Still sticky
Blockbuster Video Express in Westcliff on Sea
Last month my friend and fellow blogger Mark Routh kindly sent me some super snaps of the old Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff on Sea, Essex. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person next time I'm down that way.
The Last Blockbuster
The very last Blockbuster Video store in operation is in Bend, Oregon, USA. We were planning a holiday to Portland this year and would've called in to the store on the trip.
Hopefully it'll still be there when it's once again safe to travel to the USA.
Ighten Leigh Social Club in Burnley has a new Crazy Golf course.
Hopefully we'll get to play the layout in the future. Burnley isn't too far from us and we're looking forward to visiting the town again when it's safe for us to do so.
It'll be interesting to see what the Ighten Leigh Social Club Crazy Golf course layout looks like.
New miniature golf courses in the UK
It's the second brand new minigolf course in the UK to open its doors for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic. The first was the 18-hole dinosaur-themed adventure golf course at Perton Park Golf Club in Wolverhampton.
A new Mini Golf course has also been installed at Sea Acres Holiday Park at Kennack Sands in Cornwall.
There are a number of new minigolf courses also being built, in development or planned.
A new adventure golf course is under construction at Fairhaven Lake in Lytham St Annes on the Fylde coast. A new adventure golf layout is nearing completion at China Fleet Country Club in Saltash, Cornwall. The Filwood Community Centre in Knowle West, Bristol is planning a new Crazy Golf course and have a Putt at Home Club in the meantime. The new Roxy Ball Room at Withy Grove in Manchester will include minigolf among the games on offer. Work will soon be underway again at the Princess Parade Crazy Golf course in Blackpool. There are plans for a new Ghetto Golf venue in Sheffield, an adventure golf centre at Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre, a crazy golf course at Kingsway West Retail Park in Dundee and an adventure golf course in Andover, Hampshire. Work is also almost complete at the new Crazy Golf course at Pembrey Country Park in Wales and Boom Battle Bar in Norwich. While the new Gravity venue in Northampton was completed just as lockdown was announced.
Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic we were closing in on visiting the final 40 courses of the original 600 we set out to play in 2006. We're also very close to hitting 1,000 course visits overall.
Before the lockdown hit and our out-of-home putting was paused we'd visited 948 courses since September 2006.
We're now up to 949 course visits as we found a Pitch & Putt course on one of our daily walks last month.
We'd had a very strong start to the year and visited 20 courses in the first 20 days of 2020.
Who knows where and when course visit number 950 will be...?
A look at the social distancing measures in place on the Crazy Golf course at The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre in Preston.
The 18-hole Secret Garden Crazy Golf course is one of the new minigolf courses we had planned to play before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The course is part of The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre in Preston, Lancashire.
We've heard great things from everyone who has had a chance to play there so far and the photos we've seen of the course have been amazing.
The team at The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre have kindly sent over photos of The Secret Garden Crazy Golf course and details of the measures they've put in place to make it as safe as possible for players and to be COVID-19 Secure in 2020.
In addition to the Crazy Golf course the centre is home to a wide-range of activities that will be reopening in the coming weeks and months.
The impact of coronavirus
It'll be interesting to see the changes to how minigolf is played as lockdown restrictions ease and it becomes safer to get out and about a bit more.
I've been writing about social distancing and the impact of coronavirus on minigolf and competitive socialising venues. You can see more of my posts at 'The Coronavirus (Ham & Egger) Files'.
We're looking forward to restarting our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It's currently paused at 948 course visits. We were on quite a roll this year as we visited 20 courses in the first 20 days of 2020.
We were also closing in on visiting the final 40 courses that were on our original list of 600 when our travels began in 2006.
The Dull Men's Club is where dull men — and women who appreciate dull men — share experiences of enjoying everyday, mundane things, far from glitz and glam — "Celebrating the Ordinary".
The keynote speaker at the event was Dr Sandi Mann, aka ‘Dr Boredom’, author of The Science of Boredom: The Upside of Downtime, who spoke to the attendees about the benefits of boredom and her research on the Thirty Habits of Boring People.
My speech at the summit centred on the world of miniature golf.
Talking crazy golf at the Dull Men's Club Summit in 2018
Some highlights of my presentation covered my travels on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and how I, along with Emily, had - up to that point - visited 815 miniature golf courses since 2006.
Some of the intricacies of the sport were also discussed, with the show & tell element on minigolf balls being a particular highlight.
Check out the latest posts and interviews from the Dull Men's Club.
A look at The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in the Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton.
In 2016 The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton became the 420th course played and 720th visited overall on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.
It's always a bonus to find a miniature railway on our travels and we really weren't expecting to find or ride one on our day out in Burnley.
Thompson Park is a lovely spot and well worth a visit.
We've always enjoyed miniature railways and since we moved up to Greater Manchester we've found quite a few more while out and about exploring our new local area. There are three miniature railways in Stockport borough! Interestingly some of the engines at Thompson Park were formerly in operation at the Brookside Miniature Railway in Stockport.
