Spotting an Abandoned Shoe in an odd spot in Millport, Isle of Cumbrae

What an odd place to see an abandoned shoe!



The Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland is a brilliant place with wonderful views and a great seaside town of Millport.

The abandoned Scottish Saltire Flip-Flop bobbing about in the sea at Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland

The UK abandoned shoe count currently stands at 2678.

Links:
- Abandoned Shoe Spotter
- Abandoned Shoe related blog posts

Minigolf in Greater Manchester

A look at miniature golf courses in Greater Manchester.

There are a lot of options for minigolfing in Greater Manchester, with a variety of courses to play, ranging from traditional crazy golf to indoor minigolf to new adventure golf layouts.

We've been travelling to play minigolf in Manchester since 2009 when I won the Mini Masters and Mini Open at the Trafford Golf Centre. I also won the Chrizy Golf Masters at Piccadilly Place in 2012. We moved to Stockport in 2016 and have continued to compete in events. Emily is the reigning Paradise Island Adventure Golf Open champion, while I won the tournament in 2018. I also won the DinoFalls Masters at the Trafford Golf Centre last year.

Courses we've visited in Greater Manchester:

Paradise Island Adventure Golf at the Trafford Centre - two 18-hole indoor Adventure Golf courses.

Paradise Island Adventure Golf at the Trafford Centre

Dino Falls Adventure Golf at the Trafford Golf Centre - an 18-hole outdoor Jurassic-themed Adventure Golf course.

Dino Falls Adventure Golf at the Trafford Golf Centre

Junkyard Golf at First Street - three 9-hole indoor Crazy Golf courses.

Junkyard Golf at First Street in Manchester

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia, Market Place Shopping Centre, Bolton - an 18-hole indoor Adventure Golf course.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in Bolton

Haigh Woodland Park, Wigan - an 18-hole outdoor Wigan-themed Adventure Golf course.

Adventure Golf at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan

Haigh Woodland Park, Wigan - an 18-hole outdoor Crazy Golf course.

Crazy Golf at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan

Treetop Adventure Golf at The Printworks in Manchester City Centre - two 18-hole indoor Adventure Golf courses.

Treetop Adventure Golf at The Printworks in Manchester City Centre

Roxy Ball Room in Deansgate, Manchester City Centre - an 18-hole indoor Crazy Golf course.

Crazy Golf at Roxy Ball Room on Deansgate

UV Crazy Golf at One Adventure in Droylsden - a 12-hole indoor glow-in-the-dark minigolf course.

UV Crazy Golf at One Adventure in Droylsden

Pitch & Putt at Bruntwood Park in Cheadle, Stockport - an 18-hole miniature golf course. It's also a Foot Golf course.

Pitch and Putt at Bruntwood Park

Heaton Mersey Valley Golf course at Burnage Rugby Club, Stockport - Miniature Golf / Par-3 course with Footgolf.

Heaton Mersey Valley Golf course at Burnage Rugby Club, Stockport

Courses we're yet to visit in Greater Manchester:

- Crazy Golf at Moss Bank Park in Bolton.

New courses in development / under construction:

Dino Falls at Trafford Golf Centre - the second 18-hole Adventure Golf course is currently under construction.

Puttstars at Rochdale Riverside - three minigolf courses will be a part of the new indoor venue when it opens in April 2020.

Derelict / abandoned courses in Greater Manchester:

- Stamford Park, Stamford Street, Stalybridge, Tameside - an outdoor Crazy Golf course.

The abandoned Crazy Golf course in Stalybridge

- Crazy Golf at Wythenshawe Park - a 9-hole outdoor Crazy Golf course.

The abandoned Crazy Golf course at Wythenshawe Park

Other courses in Greater Manchester:

Over the years we've played a number of other minigolf courses in Manchester on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Some have been portable courses, while others have been temporary or pop-up locations.

There's also a grass Putting course at Park Square in Cheadle Heath, Stockport. This private Putting Green is for use by tenants and employees at the office complex. It's actually our closest course, but one we're not allowed to play.

Former courses in Greater Manchester:

- Miniature Golf at Adswood Park, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport
- Chrizy Golf at Piccadilly Place
- Birdies Pop Up Golf
- Crazy Golf at Heaton Park
- Junkyard Golf pop-up at Piccadilly Place
- Junkyard Golf pop-up at the Great Northern
- Championship Miniature Golf at the Trafford Golf Centre - a 9-hole minigolf course
- Tea Party Mini Golf at Spinningfields, Manchester
- Crazy Golf at Alexandra Park in Edgeley, Stockport

Related blog posts:

- Manchester
- Greater Manchester
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

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Woolworths in Brunstane, Edinburgh

A look at an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh.

The abandoned Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh in August 2011

My recent revisit to the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester reminded me of the old Woolworths shopfront we saw in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent last November. That in turn prompted me to look in our archives for the photos I took of the abandoned Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park next to the railway station in Brunstane, Edinburgh, Scotland from 2011.

A closer look at the old entrance

Brunstane railway station on the left is dwarfed by the old abandoned Woolworths store on the right

The building is now home to The Range.

The last Woolworths

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009 so we were amazed to see the sign was still up at the Stoke-on-Trent store last year.

Ghost signs

We see a lot of ghost signs on shops and building on our travels. Many of these are from decades ago and they help tell the story of an area.

Unfortunately in the coming months and years we are likely to see a number of other brands disappear.

In addition to these Woolworths shops and the Blockbuster Video store we've seen the remnants of retail brands from recent years including Tandy in Hitchen, RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes and Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness.

Do you have a favourite brand from years gone by? Are the remains of an old brand still visible on a building where you live or work? Do let me know.

Woolworths Pick n' Mix

Interestingly there's a Woolworths-themed miniature golf hole at Teezers Retro Golf course in Coventry, we played that course in April last year.

A loop-di-loop obstable on a Pick n' Mix minigolf hole

Banksy's Dismaland Bemusement Park

New temporary Bemusement Park open for the summer in Weston-super-Mare.

Renowned street artist Banksy has created a dystopian theme park on the site of the old Tropicana Lido in Weston-super-Mare called 'Dismaland', and the park features a Crazy Golf course.

We love visiting the British seaside and while there are some top spots for fun and entertainment, we've seen our fair share of dismal seaside resorts and deteriorating fun parks and amusement arcades amongst the 200 we've been to.

Having visited 669 Crazy, Mini and Adventure Golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour we have come across a large amount of derelict and abandoned courses.

One of the many many many derelict and abandoned miniature golf courses we've found on our tour

We've even played the Crazy Golf course at the end of the world!

What's more dismal, dystopian and crazy than playing a minigolf obstacle made of old tyres next to another that is made of the fuselage of a crashed plane. This was 'Golf Apocalypse' during the summer of 2012

Minigolf has been used in many artistic creations so it's not surprising to see a course pop-up at Dismaland. The 'Mini Gulf' layout features an oil caliphate theme, and the course is constructed from the old hockey pitch at Cheltenham Ladies College.

On our tour we've played art-based minigolf at the one-day only M!MS Mini Golf course in Bedford, Crazee Golf at the TinType Gallery in London, the Bompas & Parr food architecture course on the roof of Selfridges and Putt Putt #2 by TURF Projects in Croydon. We've also not played art courses in Clerkenwell and Folkestone, where the remnants of the old Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course were used to create a series of beach huts!

The '18 Holes' Crazy Golf art installation by Richard Wilson in Folkestone

Putt Putt #2 by TURF Projects was a temporary art installation minigolf course in Croydon

This year our friends over at A Couple of Putts created an art-installation course called Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina. While the team at The Putting Penguin have seen and reviewed a number of art-courses over the years. Earlier this summer my friend and crazy golf rival Gareth Holmes visited "The BEST Mini Golf Course in Venice" at artist's Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf.

Dismaland does look well worth a visit. Hopefully we'll get along before it closes for good on the 27th September this year.

As big fans of Crazy Golf we also run The Crazy Golf Museum - itself featured in the book Crap Days Out!

While you're in Weston-super-Mare there are plenty of other traditional seaside amusements to visit, along with three miniature golf courses.

Fella's Crazy Golf course near the pier in Weston-super-Mare

The old grass Putting course and Miniature Railway we visited in 2011 was removed a couple of years ago, but I've recently heard it's re-opened and called 'The Putting Shed'.

Putters Junction Signal Box

At Dismaland there are a limited number of tickets available each day, with 4,000 punters allowed in at £3 per person, which sounds reasonable. Check out the Dismaland website for more information, opening times and a site map.

Back in 2011 our friend and minigolf rival Kevin Moseley took us for a tour around Bristol and we spotted the Banksy artwork Well Hung Lover on Park Street

If you like your entertainment options to be unique and weird then I highly recommend a visit to the Novelty Automation arcade in London and the Under the Pier Show in Southwold, Suffolk too.

Link:
- Dismaland Bemusement Park website
- Banksy website
- The Crazy Golf Museum website

Related blog posts:
- Art
- Art Gallery
- Art Installation
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Weston-super-Mare
- Crazee Golf Art Exhibition to Open at the Tintype Gallery in London
- M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course in Bedford
- Crazy Golf Course visited but not able to be played - Folkestone (Seafront) - 18-holes Art Installation
- Playing Bompas & Parr's Minigolf course on the roof of Selfridges
- Not playing Crazy Golf at Clerkenwell Design Week 2014
- Putt Putt #2 Crazy Golf in Croydon
- Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf
- Novelty Automation arcade in London
- Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina
- Crap Days Out - at The Crazy Golf Museum?
- Miniature Golf Putting at Weston-Super-Mare, plus a Miniature Railway
- Fella's Crazy Golf in Weston-Super-Mare
- Crazy Hills Putting Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf Course in Weston-Super-Mare

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Lost and abandoned in Blackpool

A lost football and an abandoned flip flop on Blackpool promenade.

Where skateboards (and skater’s shoes) go to die

While in London for a day out on Wednesday Emily and I wandered over the Hungerford Bridge and spotted this odd sight!

The skateboard (and abandoned shoes) graveyard on Hungerford Bridge in London

The bit of the bridge (one of the supporting struts) where the broken skateboards have been thrown is very near to the Southbank LondonSkatepark.

There were an awful lot of abandoned shoes in the ‘graveyard’ too! How many can you spot?

I recently read in the London Evening Standard that the Skatepark will be getting some investment to be redeveloped. A letter writer to the paper had suggested the area be turned into a Crazy golf course – that’d be a nice addition to the area as London has a dearth of permanent Miniature Golfcourses.

Related Blog posts:

- Abandoned Shoes
- London

Christmas Tree Maze at the Southbank Centre's Winter Festival

Not getting lost in a Christmas Tree Maze in London.

While having a day out in London Emily and I had a wander along the Southbank and spotted a Christmas Tree Maze!

The Christmas Tree Maze at the Southbank Centre's Winter Festival

Unfortunately when we went to the Box Office to buy a ticket (£4 each) we were told that the maze was being resurfaced and wouldn't be open again for a few hours. A bit of a shame.

Bah humbug. The theme of finding things we want to do to be closed, abandoned or derelict, continued at the Southbank Centre's Winter Festival as we weren't able to get lost or find the centre of the Christmas Tree Maze 

Instead we went for a drinking chocolate and bought an excellent prize from the Christmas Market for our upcoming Christmas 'Do' at The Freemason's Arms in Hampstead.

The Southbank Centre's Christmas Tree Maze is filled with 300 Black Forest Christmas Trees and we think it'll look great at night.

Emily's going to another festive 'do' soon at the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, which is also home to a Christmas Tree Maze.

Link:
- Southbank Centre's Winter Festival with NatWest

Related blog posts:
- Christmas
- Maze
- Fun and Games at the Yattendon & Frilsham Village Fete
- Christmas Tree Maze at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

NO GOLF at Higher Bebington Recreation Ground on the Wirral

In July 2017 we went looking for a Crazy Golf course at Higher Bebington Recreation Ground on the Wirral. We found it, but unfortunately it was abandoned.

There was an interesting NO GOLF sign on one of the trees at the park.

The Education and Cultural Services Department regret that you can't play golf at Higher Bebington Recreation Ground if you've been cut in half

The Crazy Golf course at Higher Bebington Recreation Ground was one of a number of abandoned and derelict miniature golf courses we've found on our travels.

Toys R Us at Gateway Retail Park in Reading

Spotting an abandoned Toys R Us store in Reading, Berkshire.

We were surprised to see an old Toys R Us store while driving through Reading back in September 2022.

The shop unit at Gateway retail park looked to be in great condition and most of the signage and branding was still on display.

This particular branch of Toys R Us was only open for five months before the brand ceased trading in the UK.

Toys R Us closed its UK operation in April 2018.

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 a number of these closed, abandoned, derelict and demolished Toys R Us locations on our travels.

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

Former Toys R Us locations we've visited on our travels:

• Brighton Hill Retail Park in Basingstoke
• Central Retail Park in Manchester
• Cathedral Retail Park in Norwich
• Deepdale shopping centre in Preston
• Festival retail park in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
• Gateway retail park in Reading
• Gemini Retail Park in Warrington
• Interchange Retail Park at Copdock Mill, Ipswich
• St James Retail Park in Northampton
• Teesside Retail Park in Stockton-on-Tees
• The Leisure Plaza in Milton Keynes
• Western Esplanade in Southampton
• Wolverhampton Road in Oldbury
• Wyvern Retail Park in Derby

Derelict tennis courts

On our travels around the UK searching for Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses to play we've visited almost 600. Some however have been in a right old state.

These derelict, abandoned and unplayable courses are always a sad sight indeed. But on a recent trip to Ipswich we noticed it's not just facilities in 'minor' sports like Minigolf that suffer from neglect.

At Murray Park recreation ground in the Suffolk county town we found a row of tennis courts in a terrible post-apocalyptic condition.

Derick may be 'sexy', but the tennis courts definitely aren't

It's unfathomable that sports facilities can be left to go to ruin

Related blog post:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Indoor Mini Golf at the Lost World Adventure Park in Skegness

Visiting an abandoned theme park and derelict crazy golf in Skegness.

Visiting another abandoned minigolf course

On Sunday 10 May 2015 we visited the Lost World Adventure Park on North Parade in Skegness. Unfortunately it'd closed down. The Lost World had been home to an indoor Jungle 3D Glow-in-the-Dark Mini Golf course.

One of the remaining indications that the Lost World Adventure Park was home to a minigolf course

Through the fence you could see one of the dinosaurs and a caveman 'golfer'

The course location was the 598th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

A view of the Lost World Adventure Park from the car park beside it

Luckily there are many other miniature golf courses to play in Skegness.

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf Courses on the Lincolnshire Coast

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Skegness
- Indoor Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses

Link:

- Lost World Adventure Park on Facebook