Striking old gold. Twice in one go.
The Wayfairer Discount Store in Ilkeston |
You could hire videos from the Happy Shopper in the 1980's! |
A blog about our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. With a sprinkling of nostalgia and urban exploration for good measure.
The Wayfairer Discount Store in Ilkeston |
You could hire videos from the Happy Shopper in the 1980's! |
Mad Hatters! |
We've just started watching Stranger Things on Netflix and it reminded me that we saw the remains of the Strangest Things attraction in Blackpool earlier this year.
The online reviews for the experience are quite something!
It's highly doubtful we'll be playing any Christmas minigolf this festive season - our first Christmas in Lockdown.
Thankfully we've played a bit of yuletide crazy golf on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the past.
Check out the latest blog post about Christmas Crazy Golf from the team at Putterfingers.
NEW BLOG: Portable crazy golf hire adds a bit of festive cheer to small gatherings. Great for all ages, delivery to...
Posted by Crazy Golf on Thursday, 12 November 2020
Back on the 30th November 2012 I won the first - and to date only - Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf tournament in Manchester!
Chrizy Golf Champion |
Last Christmas at The Oxford Place |
Home-made gluten free Lebkuchen biscuits |
Kwik Save in Barrow in Furness, Woolworths in Longton, Toys R Us in Preston, Tandy in Hitchin, RadioShack in St Annes on the Sea and Blockbuster in Manchester |
A new pop music-themed minigolf course is opening at Boxpark Wembley in early 2021.
Pop Golf is being created by the team behind the Mighty Adventures brand of minigolf.
It'll be another new minigolf course for us to play on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.
The Arden Arms in Bredbury |
The sign of pub #266 on our travels |
Approaching Stockport from Tameside |
Right on the border |
Looking back towards Tameside |
Chatting with Andrew Wilcox of Readers Sheds and the Shed of the Year Awards I was reminded of this excellent shed-based crazy golf hole we played back in 2010.
Not only do you putt into a shed, but it's a musical obstacle too. Marvellous.
The garden crazy golf course in East Finchley was the 250th we visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to 956 courses since 2006.
I thought I was obsessive about something, but this fella Richard is crazy golf nutter putter - also probably the first shed I have seen used as a crazy golf hole and not the place where they give the clubs out from! #shedlove https://t.co/M323OjOUbX
— Andrew Wilcox I❤️Sheds (@unclewilco) November 4, 2020
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...?
You don't often see Budgens supermarkets these days. Although I did spot this one in a nice historic building in Sheffield recently.
This is the only Budgens in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport.
Budgens was founded by John Budgen in 1872.
The company is now a subsidiary of Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.
We popped to Burnage to do some shopping last month and spotted this Market Store. There's something rather familiar about the signage.
Related blog posts:
Last month we were fortunate enough to stumble upon a video rental shop in Little Lever, Bolton. Yes, video as in VHS!
The day we called in was Video Shop Day! What are the odds?
The old-school video rental shop was fully stocked with VHS tapes. I haven't seen anything like it for years.
They did also have DVDs.
What a marvellous time capsule of another era.
Just because your local miniature golf course may once again be closed over the coming months doesn't mean you can't keep up with your putting practice and have some crazy golf fun at home.
Back in March we put together a minigolf bucket list with ideas and suggestions of things to do in the world of miniature golf.
The Big Mini Golf Bucket List
1. Create a minigolf hole at home.
2. Go even further and build an entire crazy golf layout in your home or garden.
3. Play a minigolf videogame.
4. Send a minigolf postcard to someone you know (we love sending and receiving postcards!).
5. Write a guest blog post for the Ham & Egger Files.
6. Post about minigolf on social media and use the hashtags #minigolf #minigolfmonday #puttathome and #minigolfbucketlist.
7. Recommend a course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.
8. Play an online minigolf game.
9. Visit Minigolfnews.com.
10. Read a book about minigolf.
11. Watch and share a minigolf video online.
12. Download a minigolf app ready for when you can hit a course again.
If you have any other ideas of your own to add to the bucket list please do let us know.
Check out my blog posts about Minigolf in the time of Coronavirus and competitive isolation.
Good luck to all the minigolf courses out there over the autumn and winter months. We're looking forward to playing again.
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Picture Postcard Magic 31st October 2020 with Richard Gottfried What have you been watching during lockdown? With 2020...
Posted by Reflections of a Bygone Age on Saturday, 31 October 2020
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.
We had a walk round Chorley town centre back in August and spotted a Steals shop for the first time. The brand has some nice signage.
Looking online I found that Steals is a bargain clothes shop with branches in Blackpool, Preston, Accrington, Poulton-le-Fylde and Chorley.
We were in Blackpool in September and saw the Steals there.
The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham opened it's doors a year ago today.
Pit-Pat table golf at The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham |
It was brilliant to be the first player on the Pit-Pat table golf layout as I'm a big fan of the minigolf and pool crossover game.
You can also play on indoor baseball batting cages and a curling rink at the competitive socialising venue.
Visit The Floodgate website for more information, opening times and prices.
Check out the blog post from my visit to The Floodgate.
Spotting a modern day ghost sign in Salford.
While having a walk over the border in Salford City in the summer we spotted a modern day ghost sign for a Londis shop.
The former Londis shop is now the Pure Convenience store and can be found on Viaduct Street in Salford.
It's always intriguing seeing ghost signs and they are more often old and partially faded painted signs on the sides and fronts of buildings.
Londis was created in 1959 and there are over 2,000 Londis shops in the UK. The brand name of Londis came from the words 'London District Stores'.
Visit the Londis website for more information.
Related blog posts:
The Supernova, Asteroid and Mars Base courses at Mr Mulligans Space Golf were the 929th, 930th and 931st visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.
We've now been to 956 courses on our travels since September 2006.
Check out the Mr Mulligan website for more information, opening times and prices.
The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham officially opened it's doors a year ago this Sunday.
Pit-Pat table golf at The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham |
It was nice to be the first player on the Pit-Pat table golf layout on the pre-opening night a year ago today as I'm a big fan of the minigolf and pool crossover game.
You can also play on indoor baseball batting cages and a curling rink at the social sports venue.
Visit The Floodgate website for more information, opening times and prices.
Check out the blog post from my visit to The Floodgate.
There are seven giant inflatable monsters to track down around the city centre.
The Halloween in the City Dragon at The Printworks last year |
Check out the Visit Manchester website for more information and to download the location map.
Take a look at my blog posts from last year's Halloween in the City:
Garnet Carter created the first artificial miniature golf course in the USA in 1926. The first of the 'Tom Thumb Golf' brand of miniature golf course was an 18-hole layout located near Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
By 1930 there were some 25,000 miniature golf courses in the USA, 3,000 of which were the now patented Tom Thumb course franchises.
The course and fantasy theming caught the imagination of visitors and on the 23rd October 1930 the final of the first-ever National Tom Thumb Championship took place.
Qualifying events had taken place in all of the then 48 states of the USA, with 200 players representing 30 states in the grand final. The event had a total prize fund of $10,000, with the champion winning $2,000!
We haven't played a Tom Thumb Golf course on our travels, but we do have some nice old postcards of Tom Thumb courses in our collection. This one is of a course at Westende Bains in Belgium
Check out the Crazy Golf Museum website for more details of minigolf history.
A new themed, adults-only Crazy Golf course called Glory Holes is opening in Nottingham.
The 18-hole course, bar and diner will be located in the Hockley area and is scheduled to open in November.
Glory Holes is part of the Curious Venues group of bars and pubs.
Find out more on the Gloryholes indoor crazy golf course website.
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Back on the 13th March I got to see a DeLorean time machine at MediaCity in Salford. How different times were then! |
Last Saturday we found a video rental shop stocked with loads of VHS tapes. It was like stepping back in time! You can find B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever |
I got to see my first DeLorean at the Didsbury & South Manchester Car Show in Didsbury Park back in July 2019 |
At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 stores around the world. 500+ of which were in the UK.
There is now just one Blockbuster Video store left open. It's in Bend, Oregon.
Blockbuster Video entered the UK video rental market in 1989 following the purchase of Ritz Video.
I remember going to the Ritz Video shop on the Peachcroft Estate in my home town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire back in the late 80's and early 90's. That store became a Blockbuster and I rented some classics from there back in the day.
Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013. At the start of that year there were 528 Blockbuster locations in the UK. The number dwindled until October when only 264 shops remained. The remaining stores closed on the 16th December.
There are still clearly visible remnants of the brand on the high street and on retail parks almost seven years later.
This is the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester, UK.
We've also been to the Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, Lancashire and found the remains of quite a few other old stores.
Last Saturday happened to be National Video Shop Day and we were fortunate enough to stumble upon a video rental shop in Little Lever, Bolton! What are the odds?
It was like stepping back in time |
The old-school video rental shop was fully stocked with VHS tapes. I haven't seen anything like it for years.
What a time capsule.
You can find B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever.