Pubs of Stockport during the coronavirus pandemic

A look at Stopfordian Pubs during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Four years ago today we photographed The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. It became the first of 265 pubs, bars and clubs we visited in the borough between April and the 4th of July when the first coronavirus pandemic lockdown ended.

Pub number 1 - The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. A lovely Art Deco building. We'd never seen it shuttered before the lockdown

We visited each of the pubs while on our daily outdoor exercise between Wednesday 1st April and before pubs were allowed to reopen with social distancing measures on Saturday 4th July.

It gave us something to do during the lockdowns and it was interesting to see the variety of architecture, different signage, parts of the town we haven't been to for a long time and other parts of the area we've never been to. I documented the pubs on Instagram using the #StopfordianPubs tag.

At the 265th pub on our lockdown 'pub crawl'. Not a drop was drunk on our daily walks in April, May, June and July

Pubs of Stockport during the coronavirus pandemic

A look at Stopfordian Pubs.

Three years ago today we photographed The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. It became the first of 265 pubs, bars and clubs we visited in the borough between April and the 4th of July when the first lockdown ended.

Pub number 1 - The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. A lovely Art Deco building. We'd never seen it shuttered before the lockdown

We visited each of the pubs while on our daily outdoor exercise between Wednesday 1st April and before pubs were allowed to reopen with social distancing measures on Saturday 4th July.

It gave us something to do during the lockdowns and it was interesting to see the variety of architecture, different signage, parts of the town we haven't been to for a long time and other parts of the area we've never been to. I documented the pubs on Instagram using the #StopfordianPubs tag.

At the 265th pub on our lockdown 'pub crawl'. Not a drop was drunk on our daily walks in April, May, June and July

Filwood Crazy Golf in Knowle West, Bristol

The story of the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf course.

Check out this superb video telling the story of how the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf course in Knowle West, Bristol came about.

We loved being a part of the clubhouse and tee party online meetings and to play the unique course and meet the people involved was brilliant.

I managed to score a hole-in-one taking the direct route across the beachy 'bridge'

The real life miniature golf course was created during the pandemic and the ideas for the hole designs were generated by members of the Knowle West community during Lockdown 1.

I had the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially launch the course alongside Meg - the creative genius who led the lockdown project!

The Filwood Fantastic Crazy Golf course was the 966th course visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 549th we've played since September 2006.

There were so many fantastic people and organisations involved in the project and you can find out more about them via the links to their websites and social media below:

• Filwood Community Centre
• Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club
• Megan Clark-Bagnall
• Claudia Collins aka Claudia the Caddy
• Re:Work Bristol
• Nic Marshall Designs
• Knowle West Beaches
• Julian Wood

Check out the Filwood Crazy Golf Facebook Page and Filwood Community Centre website for more information and opening times.

Knowle West's Filwood Fantastic Crazy Golf course is open to play!

You can now play the community crazy golf course at Filwood Community Centre in Knowle West, Bristol.

You can book online for weekdays between 10am and 3pm.  

Or drop in Wednesday to Friday between 3.30pm and 6.30pm. 

The course is also hosting par-tee's on Saturdays!

Find out more on the Filwood Community Centre website.

Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club

We had a brilliant time at the launch of the brand new Filwood Fantastic Crazy Golf course last Saturday.

Cutting the ribbon to officially open the Filwood Fantastic Crazy Golf course

The real life miniature golf course was created during the pandemic and the ideas for the hole designs were generated by members of the Knowle West community during Lockdown 1.

We really enjoyed being a part of the clubhouse and tee party online meetings and to play the unique course and meet the people involved in person was wonderful.

The Filwood Fantastic Crazy Golf course was the 966th course visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 549th we've played since September 2006.

Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf in Knowle West, Bristol

Playing the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club's new Crazy Golf course in Knowle West, Bristol.

We had a superb time at the launch of the brand new Filwood Fantastic Crazy Golf course in Knowle West, Bristol on Saturday.

This was my favourite hole - the obstacle at the top of the ramp hid a sneaky surprise!

The real life miniature golf course was created during the pandemic and the ideas for the hole designs were generated by members of the Knowle West community during Lockdown 1.

I managed to score a hole-in-one taking the direct route across the beachy 'bridge'

We really enjoyed being a part of the clubhouse and tee party online meetings and to play the unique course and meet the people involved was brilliant.

I had the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially launch the course!

The Filwood Fantastic Crazy Golf course was the 966th course visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 549th we've played since September 2006.

There were so many fantastic people and organisations involved in the project and you can find out more about them via the links to their websites and social media below:

• Filwood Community Centre
• Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club
• Megan Clark-Bagnall
• Claudia Collins aka Claudia the Caddy
• Re:Work Bristol
• Nic Marshall Designs
• Knowle West Beaches
• Julian Wood

The Dull Men's Club Self-Isolators of the Year Award

We won it.

We have been declared the Self-Isolators of the Year by the Dull Men's Club for the way we have continued to explore, promote and enjoy our minigolf hobby during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

In recent years the Dull Men's Club has presented an 'Anorak of the Year' award. For 2018 it was presented to Kevin Beresford from Redditch, founder of the Roundabout Appreciation Society. For 2019 to Archie Workman, a drainspotter in Cumbria.

Leland Carlson, Assistant Vice President of the Dull Men's Club said "Normally the Dull Men's Club would have awarded the Dull Man of the Year Award in person, but coronavirus has put a stop to our ability to meet up and discuss the merits of our member's interests and present the award. At the last event in Manchester in November 2019 we awarded Archie Workman the Dull Man of the Year Award for his services to the world of Drain Spotting."

Leland continued "2020 was certainly a different year to most and it's unfortunate that the wide-range of people who make up our club haven't been able to get together in person. We've had a lot of conversations and meetings online and found that members of the club have adapted remarkably well to life indoors. Many of the hobbies and pastimes we practise are perfect for whiling away the hours, days, weeks and months of a lockdown."

"Richard and Emily are long-standing members of the club and always supportive of our events and the interests of fellow Dull people. While on the surface minigolf is not the dullest of activities and many would argue it is far more flashy than its 'big' brother Golf, there are plenty of rabbit holes to head down to research, explore and archive in the mini game. Dullness is a spectrum and everyone's hobby or interest has a place on it."

We appear in the 2021 edition of the Dull Men's Club Calendar along with a number of other characters each with their own 'dull' pursuit.

It was fun to be included in the Dull Men's Club Calendar again this year after debuting in the 2017 edition. To have been presented with the Self-Isolators of the Year Award is a fine accomplishment.

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and obsession with the game does cause mixed opinions - some people find our fascination with all things related to miniature golf over-the-top to the point of dullness.

We're looking forward to getting back out on our minigolf travels again soon

I have given presentations on the history of minigolf at a number of Dull Men's Club events and always get good feedback. Perhaps it's a nice palate cleanser on the agenda in-between talks about such things as roundabouts, telegraph poles, postcards, cacti, drains, lawnmowers, giant vegetables and valve radios. I'm certainly looking forward to the time when we're able to meet up in person again to hear about other people's hobbies and interests and also what they've been up to during lockdown.

Minigolfing activities we have been involved in during the last year have included:

• Creating crazy golf holes and obstacles at home.
• Promoting a minigolf bucket list of things to do.
• Judging a crazy golf course design competition with the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club community group in Knowle West, Bristol.
• Helping two charities re-open a crazy golf course on Princess Parade in Blackpool.
• Archiving contents in the online Crazy Golf Museum.
• Competing in tournaments on the Putt18 home putting game where we play against people in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and other parts of the UK.

When the first lockdown started we did wonder when we'd be able to play minigolf again, but as we're always keen to be active in minigolf projects we've managed to find lots to do.

I've been playing a lot of indoor golf in the last year

We have now visited 957 minigolf courses around the world since 2006, with 918 of them in the British Isles. In recent years before the pandemic we had visited around 60-80 new courses per year. We got off to a tremendous start to 2020 and visited 20 courses in the first 20 days of the year. But by the end of the year we had only been able to get to a total of 46.

Lofty's Crazy Golf course in Seaton Carew was the first course we've visited this year

Find out more on the Dull Men's Club website.

The Dull Men's Club 2021 Calendar is available from Amazon.

Signs of the coronavirus pandemic times

A look at signs of the Coronavirus pandemic, social distancing and lockdown.

I've been documenting the coronavirus pandemic in a number of ways, one of which is by photographing the different signs and posters I see on my walks and limited travels.

We're one year into lockdown in the UK and in that time I've collated some 922 of these (and counting) on my Instagram account.

One of the very first signs I snapped was this one during a local walk that passed by Cheadle Angling Club on Demmings Road in Cheadle.

We first saw social distancing measures in place at a miniature golf course in person on a walk to Bruntwood Park in Cheadle in May last year.

There is certainly a real variety of warnings, instructions and directional signage to do with social distancing, and I was amused by this photo Emily took of the social distancing measures in place on an escalator in M&S!

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 adhere to the rule and wait for the person ahead of them to reach the first marker?

Have you seen any interesting, quirky or amusing signs during these pandemic times? Do let me know.

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.

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

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

Socially distanced benches in Spinningfields

A pair of socially distanced benches in Spinningfields, Manchester.

One person only at this time

This doesn't look like the most comfortable bit of seating even at the best of times

We saw two other benches in the time of Coronavirus in Colne.

A postcard from Stockport

Dropping you a line from the Greater Manchester High Risk Coronavirus Protection Area Lockdown Zone.

A funny old sign

NO TIPPING at the Stockport Pyramid.

While having a wander around the Stockport Pyramid I noticed a funny sign near the gates - it must've been up for years as it had the old Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council logo on it.

NO TIPPNG

The other NO TIPPING sign on the opposite side of the driveway was spelt correctly.

NO TIPPING

Both signs are likely to be almost 30 years old. That's a long time for a typo like that to be hidden in plain sight!

The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport was founded in 1974 and the Stockport Pyramid was completed in 1992 after five years work.

Sadly traces of the old Metropolitan Borough of Stockport logo are becoming few and far between. There was one on an old noticeboard on Adswood Road in Cheadle Hulme until it was destroyed in a road traffic accident last year!

  

Thanks to Natalie Ainscough for letting me know about this sign with the old logo on at Woodford Recreation Ground.

Holidays at home - Stockport, 2020

Who needs the Giza Necropolis in Egypt or the Luxor in Las Vegas when you've got the Stockport Pyramid in Kings Valley.

With nowhere to go on holiday this year we've been exploring the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport even more than usual. We had a nice walk around the Stockport Pyramid and along the Trans Pennine Trail yesterday evening 

The Stockport Pyramid was completed in 1992 and was originally planned to be the first of five pyramids in Stockport's own Valley of the Kings.

That plan didn't come to fruition and the Stockport Pyramid sits on in the Kings Valley industrial and trading estate next to the M60.

Until last year the Stockport Pyramid was home to The Co-operative Bank. It's now To Let.

I do like seeing quirky buildings and local follies.

The Pyramid is one of a number of superb landmarks and interesting buildings in Stockport.

Benches in the time of Coronavirus

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.

Judging the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club PUTT PARTY contest

We had a brilliant time judging all of the entries into the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club's PUTT PARTY contest on Saturday morning.

Putting at home with the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club

The PUTT PARTY was a Show & Tell of the Mini Golf holes created by residents of Knowle West in Bristol and the culmination of a lot of hard work and crazy golfing fun.

During lockdown and over summer the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club has created a home-based minigolf club for local residents. Having received supplies of arts and crafts materials the club members were challenged to create their own crazy golf holes.

It was superb seeing the innovations, classic styles, wild, wacky and mega minigolf constructions and tricky to pick a winner.

View this post on Instagram

Yesterday was our finale Putt Party, where Knowle West-ers showcased our DIY Mini Golf Hole’s with one another over zoom, drawing the virtual ClubHouse meetings to a temporary pause. We can’t thank our in-house Mini Golf VIP’s @emslemsgottfried & @richard_gottfried all the way from Stockport enough. What a tricky judging time they had. They fed back beautiful comments on all the houses holes, really respected our community with words of encouragement and praise for our different skillsets and mini golf crafting skills. Comments included ‘wow, I wasn’t expecting that!’ & ‘you had it all!’ 949 Mini Golf Holes 🕳 visited. We cannot wait for you to visit us in Knowle West (when restrictions allow). #superstars #mr&mrs #minigolfchamps #thankyousomuch #diygolfcourse #communityfirst

A post shared by #FilwoodFantastic Mini Golf (@filwoodfantasticminigolf) on Jul 26, 2020 at 5:39am PDT

After everyone had demonstrated their crazy golf layout and talked through the ideas behind it we entered into deliberation before declaring the Alford family the winners of the Mini Golf Artists Award 2020 for their excellent Crocodile hole.

You can see the winning design in the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club Facebook Group and Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

HUGE congratulations to @thegurtlife Dan, Lucy & Rowan for their Winning design at our Finale Putty Party on Saturday morning. Novers (g)Nasher came from no-where and stole first place with a cranking automated croc mouth, a slide for the ball and a direct swift hole in one action. Unbelievable!!! Dan’s family holds the title of The Mini Golf Artist 2020! He’ll be collecting his trophy and prize set from the Filwood Fantastic market next Saturday at @filwoodcentre #welldone #expecttheunexpected #communityforthewin #welldonedan #aloveofcrocs

A post shared by #FilwoodFantastic Mini Golf (@filwoodfantasticminigolf) on Jul 26, 2020 at 5:48am PDT

The multi-level layout had moving parts to open the croc's mouth, a ramp, tunnel, a playable tee-off point and a nice green.

View this post on Instagram

I may have got a little carried away with the build for today’s @filwoodfantasticminigolf inaugural diy hole building competition. Chuffed to take the win with our entry, The Novers Gnasher! A run down of the materials used: The shell of the croc was from our neighbours old To Let sign and covered with an old yoga mat. The hand crank is from some random screws, bottle tops and left over wood from a garden project. The ball goes through the crocs mouth Into a cardboard tube before travelling down a 2 metre slope, through an old drainage pipe (to slow the ball down), arriving on finishing green. The only cost was £1 for the hinges in the crocs mouth! #lockdownproject #minigolf #knowlewest #diygolfcourse

A post shared by The Gurt Life (@thegurtlife) on Jul 25, 2020 at 12:02pm PDT

We're looking forward to seeing the creation scaled-up and included in the full-size Crazy Golf course being built at the Filwood Community Centre later this year.

Visit the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club's Facebook Group and the Filwood Community Centre website for more information.

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Check out the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Newsletter archive and sign-up to receive future editions

Putting at Home with the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club

We found out about the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club in Knowle West, Bristol last month and have joined the club's Putt Party online events.

The Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club have created a home-based minigolf club and work is underway to build brand new minigolf course at the Filwood Community Centre.

Members of the club have been designing and making their own crazy golf holes using a wide-range of materials. The 16 households are putting the finishing touches to the layouts ahead of a competition to declare the best design this coming Saturday. Emily and I are really looking forward to being guest judges at the event. We've seen some superb designs so far.

Check out the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club's Facebook Group and the Filwood Community Centre website for more information.