Urban exploration - Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Manchester

A look at the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester.

I spotted the remains of a Blockbuster Video store while driving to Manchester in October 2019 and revisited it several times up until its demolition in January 2024.

Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013 and it was interesting that lots of the branding, signage and QuikDrop box remained largely unchanged at the abandoned store in that time.

The inside of the old store had a haunting, frozen in time look to it.

Miniature Golf 'Days' in 2026

There are two 'miniature golf days' each year.

National Miniature Golf Day is always on the second Saturday in May. In 2026 that will be Saturday 9th May.

The other minigolf day, Miniature Golf Day, is always on the 21st September. In 2026 the 21st falls on a Monday.

Minigolf courses we've played on Miniature Golf Days in previous years

Minigolf videos on YouTube

Check out our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour playlist on YouTube.

Blockbuster Video videos on YouTube

Check out my Blockbuster Videos playlist on YouTube.

Happy Shopper shops videos on YouTube

Check out my Happy Shopper shops playlist on YouTube.

Toys R Us store videos on YouTube

Check out my Toys R Us playlist on YouTube.

The old Toys R Us

At its peak there were 105 Toys R Us stores in the UK. It's been very interesting to find that there are still remnants of the brand on some retail parks in the UK and we've visited several of these closed, abandoned, derelict and demolished Toys R Us locations on our travels.

Working at Toys R Us

My first job while at university in the year 2000 was as one of Geoffrey's helpers at the Luton Toys R Us store. I worked on the video game and electronics section.

Tram videos on YouTube

Check out my trams playlist on YouTube.

Train videos on YouTube

Check out my trains playlist on YouTube.

Miniature Railway videos on YouTube

Check out my miniature railways playlist on YouTube.

Pacer Railbus train videos on YouTube

Check out my Pacer Railbus trains playlist on YouTube.

Steam Train videos on YouTube

Check out my steam trains playlist on YouTube.

Freight Train videos on YouTube

Check out my freight trains playlist on YouTube.

Happy New Year 2026!

Happy New Year!

All the very best for 2026.

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour is 20 years old in 2026

Next year will be the 20th year playing on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

2026 will see us hit another big minigolf milestone as we mark 20 years of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels.

How it started.

We played the Victory Trail course at Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea, Hampshire, England on Saturday 30th September 2006. At the end of our 9-hole round I won a free game by firing the cannon on the lucky last hole!

When we got home from the weekend away we found a list of 600 or so minigolf courses in the UK and wider British Isles on the excellent MiniatureGolfer.com website that Tim 'Ace Man' Davies had compiled. We thought it'd be fun to see how many of them we could visit on day trips and weekends away to the seaside.

How its going.

To date we've been to 1,114 miniature golf courses. 1,053 of them have been in the British Isles.

As well as playing minigolf in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Jersey and the Isle of Man we’ve travelled to minigolf courses in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Finland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Spain (including Lanzarote and Majorca), Sweden and the USA.

From 600 courses in the UK to more than 1,300.

When our crazy golfing travels began in 2006 there were around 600 miniature golf courses in the UK and wider British Isles.

There are now more than 1,400 - and there are lots of new places to play the game opening all the time.

Unfortunately, several courses have closed over the years. But on a brighter note, some others have been refurbished, redeveloped, or completely transformed into new layouts.

All of the changes and updates have meant that our minigolfing quest to visit every course is becoming never-ending!

When we originally set off to visit as many courses as possible the target list was 600 in the British Isles. And almost 20 years later, we've still got around 50 of those original courses to visit!

Minigolf record makers.

Our travels have been recognised by the Guinness World Records, and I'm a record holder for "Most miniature golf courses visited" (902 at the time of going to press). Check out the Guinness World Records 2024 book and the GWR website to see a lot more minigolf records too!

Where next on our crazy minigolfing adventures?

Where do you think we should visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour next? Do get in touch to let us know your suggestions and recommendations, or drop your top picks for minigolf places in the comments.

Related blog posts:

• Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
• Minigolf Around the World
• 19 years of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:

• Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea

Art Deco former cinema in Worthing, West Sussex

A look at an Art Deco building in Worthing, West Sussex.

This Art Deco building in Worthing opened as The Plaza in 1933 and was a theatre and cinema.

Buzz Bingo permanently closed in 2025.

The building had been a bingo hall since the 1970s.

Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas!

19 years ago on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

A look back at the 10th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

We visited the 10th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on this day 18 years ago.

On a bitterly cold 23rd December 2006 Emily, my brother Christopher and I headed along to the Horse & Harrow Pub in West Hagbourne, Oxfordshire to have a game on their beer garden Crazy Golf course.

And what a course it was - we'd not seen anything like it before! And we haven't seen anything quite like it since!

Crazy Golf at the Horse and Harrow Pub in West Hagbourne, Oxfordshire - December 2006

We visited the course again in April 2011 and while it was a bit drier, it was still a very mossy layout.

Crazy Golf at the Horse and Harrow Pub in West Hagbourne, Oxfordshire - April 2011

Little did we know back then that our interest in crazy golf would become an obsession and that we'd visit 1,114 courses over 19 years.

Together with Christopher and his family we've now been to a grand total of 1,168 courses since we all picked up a putter in Southsea on the 30th September 2006.

Blogiversary of the Ham and Egger Files

I've been blogging for 19 years today.

I'm often asked how is it that a blog about minigolf has the name the 'Ham and Egger Files'? The answer is that it didn't initially start out life as a minigolf blog.

My first blog post.

I published my first blog post about how I planned to participate in as many obscure and minority sports as I could and see what would happen with the (limited amount of) sporting ability I had!

What is a 'Ham & Egger'?

The term 'ham and egger' has connotations ranging from that of 'ordinary person' to that of 'loser'. The origin of the term comes from prize fighters whose modest skills wouldn’t let them win large purses. Therefore, the fighter or their manager - who received a percentage of any purses won - were never able to afford to eat better than ham and eggs.

Lots of blogs.

Since that first post 19 years ago I have published 6,648 blog posts and received 7,160,609 pageviews!

This time last year I had published 5,900 posts and received 3.5 million pageviews.

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Our interest in minigolf, and what would soon become our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, had actually begun on the 30th September 2006, but I didn't publish a post about the sport until the 29th January 2007 when I announced that I had joined the British Minigolf Association - a competition circuit I made my actual debut on in Southend-on-Sea on the 28th April 2007.

We've now been to over 1,114 miniature golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Our travels have been recognised by the Guinness World Records, and I'm a record holder for "Most miniature golf courses visited" (902 at the time of going to press).

When we began our travels there were around 600 courses in the UK. There are now more than 1,300, with new courses opening all the time.

Other sports & games are available

If you're wondering what happened to the quest to play lots of different sports, that has continued and I've participated in some very interesting events over the years!

A massive thank you goes out to everyone who has ever read one of my posts, commented, shared, or guest blogged on the site, it really is very much appreciated.

Happy Winter Solstice

Today marks midwinter and is the 'shortest day' and 'longest night' of the year.

Stonehenge The Big Mini Golf course in Hemsby, Norfolk (August 2021)

Did you know there's a Stonehenge-themed minigolf course in Hemsby, Norfolk?

Stonehenge The Big Mini Golf was the 174th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in June 2010 when it was a 15-hole layout. We first visited it in May 2009 when it was a 12-hole course. It's now an 18-hole course.

Here are two videos of us playing the course in June 2010.

Here are some videos of the course on our most recent visit in May 2022.

Christmas Crazy Golf in 2009

A look back at a festive pop-up crazy golf course in London.

Back in 2009 there was a Christmas-themed Minigolf course at Devonshire Square in London.

You had to putt into Santa's mouth - look in the photo above to see where it exited!

We'd played the course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in October of that year when it was a 'normal' pop-up.

Related blog posts:

• Christmas
• Father Christmas
• Santa Claus
• Crazy Golf
• Crazy World of Minigolf Tour