Former Blockbuster Video stores

A look at some lost Blockbuster Video stores.

Since first spotting the remains of the former Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester in October 2019 we've been on the lookout for other remnants of the brand. Sometimes we've been lucky and found an old QuikDrop box or piece of signage and on occasion we've been really lucky and seen full shopfronts and branding left inside stores.

However, on some occasions we haven't been as fortunate. That's been the case when visiting Chorley, Telford, Abingdon, Great Moor and Wythenshawe.

Former Blockbuster Video Store - Chorley Retail Park in Chorley, Lancashire (August 2020)

Now a restaurant and takeaway

Former Blockbuster Video Store - Rampart Way, Telford, Shropshire (September 2020)

This was a large store

The last remnants of Blockbuster in Telford

Former Blockbuster Video Store - Peachcroft, Abingdon, Oxfordshire (November 2020)

This was my local Blockbuster video shop when I was growing up

Former Blockbuster Video Store - Buxton Road, Great Moor, Stockport (March 2021)

At least this former store is still blue and yellow

Former Blockbuster Video Store - Rowlands Way, Wythenshawe, Manchester (April 2021)

Another tile shop

To date we've been to former Blockbuster stores in:

• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Colne, Lancashire
• Chester, Cheshire
• Felixstowe, Suffolk
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
• Marple, Greater Manchester
• Oldham, Greater Manchester
• Prescot, Lancashire
• Telford, Shropshire
• Chorley, Lancashire
• Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Leigh, Greater Manchester
• Wythenshawe, Manchester
• Billingham, Teesside

Wythenshawe Park Crazy Golf in Manchester

A look at the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.

We revisited the Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester while out on our daily exercise on Sunday.

The 9-hole layout was the 114th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour way back in July 2009.

Here's a look at each of the holes.

Hole 1

Hole 2

Hole 3

Hole 4

Hole 5

Hole 6

Hole 7

Hole 8

Hole 9

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Pitch & Putt at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester

A look at the Pitch & Putt course at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.

We visited Wythenshawe Park in Manchester for our daily outdoor exercise on Sunday and as well as revisiting the abandoned Crazy Golf course there we saw the Pitch & Putt layout on our walk round the park and gardens.

The Pitch & Putt course at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester was the 949th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Related blog posts:
- Pitch & Putt
- Wythenshawe
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

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Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park, Manchester

A look at the Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.

Hole 4 of the 9-hole layout

We visited Wythenshawe Park over the border in Manchester for our daily outdoor exercise yesterday.

On the first course since before the Coronavirus pandemic hit

The 9-hole Crazy Golf course is the first previously played Crazy Golf location we've revisited during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 9-hole course

It was the first time we've been to Wythenshawe Park since we played the course on the 25th July 2009 when it became the 114th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Bizarre really as technically it's our most local course!

We had asked a number of people if the course was still there since we moved to Stockport in 2016 but nobody knew anything about it, or said it was long gone.

So it was a nice surprise to see it was still there.

The park is also home to a Pitch & Putt miniature golf course. That became the first new course we've been to during the pandemic and the 949th visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

A view of the Pitch & Putt course

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Crazy Golf at Wythenshawe Park, Manchester

A visit to the Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.

We revisited the Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester while on our daily outdoor exercised today.

At the Wythenshawe Park Crazy Golf course

It's the first previously played course we've revisited during the coronavirus pandemic.

We first visited the course back on the 25th July 2009 when it became the 114th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

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Games at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester

Minigolf and Pétanque at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.

Since we moved up to Greater Manchester towards the end of last summer Emily and I have started playing pétanque ‏with the Woodstock Pétanque ‏Club based at Alexandra Park in Edgeley, Stockport.

Playing with the Woodstock Petanque Club at Alexandra Park in Edgeley, Stockport last August

There's a growing pétanque ‏scene in the area, with the Trafford Pétanque‏ Club doing a lot to promote the game and mixing it up in some friendly melee's with Mirfield Pétanque Club, Huddersfield Pétanque Club and Heckmondwike Pétanque Club.

Aly and Chris from Trafford Pétanque‏ Club recently recce'd Wythenshawe Park and found an abandoned boules terrain there. They asked me if I remembered it from when we visited a few years back. Off the top of my head I didn't.

Boules / Petanque was not listed on the sign at the Games Pavilion in Wythenshawe Park. It wasn't on the price list either

However, looking through our photo archive I found we had indeed visited the petanque piste while at Wythenshawe Park to play the minigolf course back in 2009!

The Petanque terrain at Wythenshawe Park - and a handy How to Play sign!

We'll have to head over to Wythenshawe Park to have a look at the Crazy Golf course considering it's now our most local layout! In the meantime here are a couple of snaps from our visit to the course on the 25th July 2009. We were in the area to compete in the Miniature Open tournament held at Playgolf Manchester - we'd finished first and second in the event earlier in the day.

The Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park was an Eternit-style of Miniature Golf

Quite a zig zag of a hole!

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Petanque
- Minigolf Course Visit No. 114 - Wythenshawe Park

Links:
- Trafford Pétanque‏ Club
- Woodstock Pétanque ‏Club
- Northern Pétanque Clubs
- Northern Pétanque
- English Pétanque Association