New Mini Golf at Parc Bryn Bach in Tredegar, Wales

A new Mini Golf course has opened at Parc Bryn Bach in Tredegar, Wales.

Many thanks to my friend, minigolf rival and fellow crazy golf enthusiast Martyn Williams of the Welsh Minigolf Club for letting me know about a brand new Mini Golf course that recently opened at Parc Bryn Bach in Tredegar.

It looks like an ace layout and Martyn tells me it plays very nicely indeed.

It's another course for us to visit when our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour returns to Wales.

Check out the Parc Bryn Bach website for more information.

Martyn also sent me this snap of a brilliant social distancing sign he spotted while visiting the park.

Covid-19 signage at Lofty's Crazy Golf course in Seaton Carew

I've been writing about minigolf during the time of coronavirus and blogging examples of Covid-19 and social distancing signage and measures that I've seen or had shared with me during the pandemic.

It was lovely to be back at the seaside

During the pandemic we've visited ten new minigolf courses to us (as well as a few revisits). Our first new course visit of 2021 was in April when we swung by Lofty's Crazy Golf course in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, Teesside.

Covid-19 guidelines

Course rules

Social distancing markings at the entrance

Hole 1

It'll be nice to have a round on the 10-hole seafront course in the future.

In addition to the minigolf signs I've been documenting all of the Covid-19 signs I've seen on my Instagram account.

Covid-19 signage at Fairhaven Adventure Golf in Lytham St Annes

I've been writing about minigolf during the time of coronavirus and sharing examples of Covid-19 and social distancing signage and measures I've seen during the pandemic.

Last month we swung by the new Fairhaven Lake Adventure Golf course in Lytham St Annes while on a trip to the Fylde coast.

In addition to minigolf signs I've see I've been documenting all of the Covid-19 signs I've seen on my Instagram account.

Pac-Man at Southampton Inside/Out

We spotted Pac-Man and a blue ghost while walking around Southampton last month!

They were created as part of the social distancing floor markings as part of the Southampton Inside Out dining campaign to create more places to dine out during the coronavirus pandemic.

Woolworths in Nuneaton

Finding a Woolworths ghost sign.

We were surprised to see a Woolworths ghost sign while walking through Nuneaton town centre!

The sign was above the store's former entrance on Queens Road.

Social distancing signage alongside Woolworths branding - not something I ever thought I'd see

The shop was most recently a Poundland and before then had been a 99p Stores and a TJ Hughes.

It's always fun seeing old & lost brands, ghost signs and retail relics.

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

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009 so it's always nice when remnants of the brand become visible again.

We visited the Woolworths in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent last September. That store still has the signage in place and we'd originally spotted it while driving through the town the previous November.

We took a look at an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh in August 2011. That was a Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park. It's long gone now.

You can however still see an old mosaic tile logo at the former Woolworths on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.

Interestingly there's a Woolworths Pick n' Mix Crazy Golf hole at Teezers Retro Golf in Coventry!

No sitting

A look at a shopping centre bench in the time of social distancing.

A bench in the Spinning Gate shopping centre in Leigh

We've seen a few other benches with social distancing signs and rules about sitting down during the pandemic, including a pair of socially distanced benches in Spinningfields, Manchester and these two in Colne, Lancashire.

I've been documenting the Covid-19 and social distancing signs I've seen during the pandemic here on the blog as well as on my Instagram account.

Social distancing signs in Abingdon's Market Place

I've been documenting the Covid-19 social distancing signs I've seen during the coronavirus pandemic here and on my Instagram.

The ones in my home town's Market Place are nice and clear. They also include the Abingdon-on-Thames town crest which I think is a nice touch.

The Market Place is famous as the location for Bun Throwing and the starting point for the Michaelmas Fair. Both events normally see thousands of people pack in or pass through to be a part of the occasions.

The Arden Arms in Bredbury, Stockport

Erratum - we missed a pub on our lockdown pub crawl of Stockport Borough.

We visited 265 pubs, bars and clubs during the national lockdown between April and July of this year. Some of those places were long established, others were new venues, a few were getting ready to open for the first time in 2020, while a number of others were lost pubs.

One of the pubs we missed during the first lockdown was the Arden Arms at Bredbury!

The Arden Arms in Bredbury

We knew there was an Arden Arms in the town centre (pub #51), but as the Bredbury location is right on the border with Denton in Tameside it completely slipped off our radar.

The sign of pub #266 on our travels 

We rectified the matter on Saturday though as we took our day's outdoor exercise at Hulmes Wood and walked back across the border into Stockport to snap the Arden Arms.

Approaching Stockport from Tameside

Right on the border

Looking back towards Tameside

Related blog posts:

- Pubs of Stockport

- Pubs

- Stockport

- Lockdown

- Stopfordian Pubs

Keep YOUR Distance - Protect yourself

Check out this social distancing floor sign outside the old Blockbuster Video store at Fallowfield Retail Park in Manchester.

Signs of the old and the new. Together. In Manchester

We're currently in Tier 3 Restrictions in Greater Manchester. 

Here in Stockport we've been under tight restrictions of one form or another since the first national lockdown in March.  

Tomorrow the whole of England will move into a national lockdown for the second time this year.

I wonder what other interesting signs I will see on my daily outdoor exercise this winter...?

Budgens in Sheffield

A look at a Budgens supermarket in Sheffield.

The supermarket on London Road was a Sainsbury's Local until February this year.

It reopened as a Budgens shortly after.

You don't see Budgens as much as you used to.

The building really stands out and is one of the oldest in the area. A lovely sight to spot.

It opened as The Lansdowne Picture Palace in 1914 and became a Mecca dance hall called The Locarno in the 1950s. It underwent a number of name changes during its time as a nightclub.

Interestingly the building was a Marks & Spencer for a short time in the late 1940s.

Social distancing signage and the welcome mat at the entrance

Budgens was founded by John Budgen in 1872.

The company is now a subsidiary of Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.

Pubs of Stockport

Check out the interview in The Viaduct magazine about our mission to visit every pub, club and bar in Stockport during lockdown this year.

The first pub we visited - The Kings Tap in Cheadle Hulme

Pub number 73 - The Crown Inn in Stockport town centre with the viaduct behind it

Pub number 265 - The Nursery Inn in Heaton Norris

Minigolf rules at Hastings Adventure Golf

The team at Hastings Adventure Golf have added details of Covid Secure Miniature Golf to each of the scorecards at the seaside centre.

The Happy Shopper in Sheffield

It was nice to find a Happy Shopper shop with the original branding up and still open. This one is on Page Hall Road in Sheffield.

The two other Happy Shopper shops I've seen this year have both been closed. One of those was also in Sheffield.

I remember seeing the Happy Shopper shops and branded products a lot when I was a kid in the 80's and 90's.

The Happy Shopper branding from the 1970's 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.

Interestingly the social distancing signs on the door showed the original Happy Shopper branding with the smiling blond face appearing before the word 'Happy' rather than in place of the 'o' as seen in the second incarnation of the logo 

The Happy Shopper brand has been part of the Booker Group since 1996. Booker itself is now owned by Tesco.

Related blog posts:

- Happy Shopper

- Happy Shopper in Sheffield

- Happy Shopper in Preston

- Shopfronts

Covid-19 social distancing signage with 1970s branding

One of the best finds during my 'retail archaeology' expeditions this year is the social distancing signage using the original Happy Shopper branding from the 1970's, 80's and 90's at The Happy Shopper convenience store in Sheffield.

A slightly unexpected sight on a sign of the times in 2020

I remember seeing the Happy Shopper shops and buying their own-branded products a lot when I was a kid growing up in Oxfordshire back in the 80's and 90's.

The Happy Shopper on Page Hall Road in Sheffield

The Happy Shopper branding from the 1970's was changed in the year 2000 and became a lot simpler design. I thing it certainly lost a lot of its character.

The original Happy Shopper branding has the smiling blond haired face appearing before the word 'Happy' rather than in place of the 'o' in the word 'Shopper' as seen in the second, and probably more widespread, incarnation of the logo.

The two other Happy Shopper shops I've seen this year have both been closed. The first was in Preston and the second was also in Sheffield.

Check out my Instagram account for more social distancing signs I've spotted on my urban walks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Castaway Island Mini Golf in Great Yarmouth

A look at the Castaway Island Mini Golf course in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

My brother and Charter Member of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour has sent over some photos of the Castaway Island Mini Golf course in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

Social distancing measures at the entrance/exit to the course

The anchor has been there since it was an Arnold Palmer Putting Course

Castaway Island Mini Golf replaced the 9-hole and 18-hole Arnold Palmer Putting courses on the promenade. We visited in July 2016 and the course became the 693rd on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

At the Arnold Palmer Putting Course on the site in June 2007

How Castaway Island Mini Golf looked in July 2016

The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Christopher and his family have visited 37 courses on their branch of the tour, 26 of those have been unique to them. Emily and I have visited 956 courses on the main tour.

Christopher has been to six courses in 2020. He revisited the indoor adventure golf course at The Windmill Theatre in Great Yarmouth too.

We've been to a total of 46 courses in 2020, with 15 of those being new courses visited. We've swung by eight new courses in the time of coronavirus.

We've got 40 of the original 600 we set out to visit left and a lot of new courses to play at too!

Together we've been to 982 courses since the 30th September 2006.

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Social distancing on an escalator

I've been documenting a number of aspects of the coronavirus pandemic here and on my social media. One of my areas of interest is the variety of warnings, instructions and directional signage there is around social distancing, so I loved seeing this photo Emily took of the social distancing measures in place on an escalator in M&S!

Kind of like chevrons on the motorway

Surely the 2 metre apart distance stickers should be on the moving walkway as well, rather than the static sides of the escalator? I wonder how many people are adhering to the rule and waiting for the person ahead of them to reach the first marker?

Check out my Instagram account and the various highlights for snaps of the social distancing, coronavirus and Covid-19 signs I've seen on my (limited) travels this year.

Social Distancing World Champion! I don't think anyone is winning this year

Social distancing floor signs at the Burlington pub in Chesterfield