An empty Walkden Town Centre shopping centre in Walkden, Salford

The liminal space of Walkden Town Centre shopping centre in Walkden, Salford, Greater Manchester.

We've played crazy golf in the space - back in 2019 there was a pop-up course set up!

Emily playing crazy golf at Walkden Town Centre in August 2019

Dinosaur mini-golf at Swinton Square in Salford

There's a dinosaur mini-golf course at Swinton Square in Salford until Sunday 11th August.

The 9-hole course is free to play!

Check out the Swinton Square website for more information.

We played the Dino Crazy Golf pop-up at Swinton Square on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in 2022.

A Back to the Future DeLorean - in 2020

I saw a Back to the Future DeLorean time machine four years ago today.

This was the last event we went to, as the world went into shutdown with the coronavirus pandemic shortly afterwards.

In 2019 I ticked 'See a real life DeLorean' off of my bucket list.

On Friday the 13th 2020 I managed to see another one at MediaCityUK in Salford and that one was this Back to the Future version!

Four years later and I still need to drive one...

What time would you go to?

Check out the Back to the Future car's website for more information.

A Back to the Future DeLorean in Salford - in 2020

I saw a Back to the Future DeLorean time machine three years ago today.

A Back to the Future DeLorean in Salford

Time flies! Or does it...

A Back to the Future DeLorean in Salford

What a different time 2023 is!

Dino Crazy Golf at Swinton Square in Salford

We played the Dino Adventure Mini Golf course at Swinton Square in Swinton, Salford last weekend.

Dino Crazy Golf at Swinton Square in Salford

The 9-hole pop-up crazy golf course was the 997th visited and 561st played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

A to...

...Z

A tricky cup to reach

Emily playing the volcano hole

Y the volcano?

The Rules

Crazy Golfer

The course is opening until this Sunday, 21st August. And it's free to play!

In our minigolf match Emily scored the win with a round of 24 to my 25.

Visit the Swinton Square, Salford website for more details of the Dinosaur Mini Golf course and event.

Videos of the course

Dino Mini Golf at Swinton Square in Salford

We played the Dino Adventure Mini Golf course at Swinton Square in Swinton, Salford this morning.

The 9-hole pop-up course was the 997th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

We had brilliant fun playing the Jurassic miniature golf course

The course is there until the 21st August. And it's free to play!

 

Visit the Swinton Square, Salford website for more details of the Dinosaur Mini Golf course and event.

Mini Golf at Swinton Square, Salford

There will be a pop-up Dinosaur Mini Golf course at Swinton Square in Salford this summer.

There will be a dinosaur minigolf course in Salford this summer

Games tee-off on the free-to-play dino crazy golf course on Monday 1st August and run until  Sunday 21st August. Players can tackle the course between 10am and 4pm.

We'll have to go along for a game on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour as it's quite near to us. And we've never been to that bit of Salford before.

Visit the Swinton Square, Salford website and social media for more details of the Dinosaur Mini Golf course and event.

What a difference a year makes

We saw a Back to the Future DeLorean time machine at MediaCityUK in Salford a year ago today!

If you had a time machine would you go back in time or head to the future?

There's no missing Salford Shopping City

What a piece of signage.

Salford Shopping Centre opened as Salford Precinct in 1972 and was renamed Salford Shopping City in 1992

Even though the shopping precinct is now called Salford Shopping Centre the huge sign on the block of flats clearly points out where the shops are in Pendleton, Salford.

Grainger Games in Salford

Grainger Games - a lost video game shop brand.

This is the Salford Shopping Centre location in Pendleton, Salford, Greater Manchester.

The company was founded in 1996 and ceased operations on the 28th March 2018.

As a brand with shops in the North of England and Scotland I only became a regular shopper there when I moved to Stockport in 2016.

This year I've found other former branches of Grainger Games at Stretford Mall and Clarendon Square Shopping Centre in Hyde.

Family Shopper in Salford

My recent hunts for Happy Shopper shops led me to find out about the Family Shopper brand. The stores are part of the same retail group. The first one I noticed was in Ashton-under-Lyne earlier this year.

Driving back from Salford Shopping Centre we spotted this Family Shopper on the corner of Cross Lane and Culverwell Drive.

The building looked like it used to be a pub and looking on the excellent Pubs of Manchester blog I found it used to be a pub called the Golden Gate. It was originally known as the Craven Heifer.

I'm still on the lookout for Happy Shopper stores with the classic signage and branding. I've been lucky to find one in Preston, a couple in Sheffield and another in Derby.

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'.

The chain of convenience shop franchises is now owned by Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.

Visit the Londis website for more information.

Related blog posts:

- Londi's not Londis

- Ghost signs

The Goodfather in Salford

We spotted another Godfather takeaway while out for a walk in Salford yesterday.

This one was missing a letter on its sign.

But had gained two letters to become Goodfather Pizza

The side sign still says Godfather

Check out the Godfather signs we've seen on our travels.

Miniature Golf in Salford

Finding two minigolf courses in Salford.

We found two miniature golf courses by accident while out on our daily outdoor exercise yesterday afternoon!

Both layouts were in the City of Salford - one was a Putting Green at Victoria Park in Pendlebury, Swinton and the other was a Pitch & Putt course at Buile Hill Park in Salford.

Neither course was open

It's always nice to find minigolf courses we didn't previously know about. It was especially crazy as both are fairly close by!

We've now been to 954 courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

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Back to the Future is 35

Back to the Future was released in the USA on this day in 1985!

On Friday 13th March I managed to see a Back to the Future DeLorean at Media City in Salford.

It was brilliant to tick that off my bucket list.

A Back to the Future DeLorean in Salford

Seeing a Back to the Future DeLorean in Salford.

Last summer I ticked 'See a real life DeLorean' off of my bucket list.

On Friday I managed to see another one at MediaCityUK in Salford and that one was a Back to the Future version!

I still need to drive one...

What time would you go to?

Check out the Back to the Future car's website for more information.

Crazy Golfing at Walkden Town Centre

Playing a round on the pop-up Crazy Golf course at Walkden Town Centre.

Shopping mall minigolf!

On Saturday we made a short trip up the road to have a game on the pop-up Crazy Golf course at the Walkden Town Centre shopping mall in Worsley, Salford, Greater Manchester.

The course was made up of separate square tiles with plastic edge pieces holding the greens together. It'd be fun to have a load of the tiles and create some wacky minigolf layouts

The Crazy Golf course was set-up for three days as part of the shopping centre's Summer of Fun events.

Emily on hole 2

We got there nice and early and had a clear course ahead of us.

Playing hole 4

In our minigolf match-up I got the win with a score of 18 to Emily's 21.

Emily on hole 3

The course was the 924th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 526th played.

Another minigolf course we never could've imagined playing when our travels began in September 2006!

After our game we had a wander round the shopping centre as we hadn't been there before. As we walked past the course a few more times it was nice to see lots of people enjoying a game and were glad we got there early.

Emily on hole 7

For more information check out the Walkden Town Centre website.



It was a fun layout to play. We've played similar obstacles, but haven't been on a course using this particular size and type of putting green tiles before. It was a nice surface to putt on.



It's wonderful to see miniature golf courses popping up in different places. Shopping centres are increasingly becoming popular venues for both pop-up and permanents courses, ranging from portable courses, to skill-based minigolf, to adventure golf layouts.

Playing hole 7

When our travels began back in September 2006 there were two indoor minigolf venues among the 600 courses in the UK. One of those was in Felixstowe and the other in Great Yarmouth. There are now close to 100 indoor venues, with more opening up every week.

We visited our 600th UK course at Goodrington Sands, Paignton, Devon in June 2015. There are now around 1,000 courses in the UK, with new courses opening all the time.

The last hole was a tricky uphill shot. It was a nice ace to get though

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf in Greater Manchester
- Greater Manchester
- Shopping
- Summer

Videos:
- Crazy Golf hole-in-one at Walkden Town Centre 1 of 3
- Crazy Golf hole-in-one at Walkden Town Centre 2 of 3
- Crazy Golf hole-in-one at Walkden Town Centre 3 of 3

Link:
- Walkden Town Centre

Crazy Golf at Walkden Town Centre in Greater Manchester

Summer of fun to include Crazy Golf at Walkden Town Centre.

Walkden Town Centre in Greater Manchester will have a Crazy Golf course set-up in Victoria Square between 11am and 3pm on Thursday 29th, Friday 30th and Saturday 31st August.

Hopefully we'll be able to get along for a game.

For more information check out the Walkden Town Centre website.

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf in Greater Manchester
- Greater Manchester
- Shopping
- Summer