The CLUB GOLF pop-up minigolf course in London

Looking back at the CLUB GOLF pop-up minigolf course at Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross, London.

The last new minigolf course I played before the coronavirus pandemic lockdown struck was the CLUB GOLF pop-up minigolf course at Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross, London.

The 9-hole rave-inspired art installation crazy golf course was the 948th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 542nd played.

Artists Baker & Borowski created the 9-hole themed Crazy Golf layout inspired by the rave culture in the King's Cross area back in the 1980's and 1990's.

I shot a round of 23 in my game - the scorecard noted that the maximum score allowed was 63! That would be a seven on each hole!

It was a fun course to play and well spaced out around Coal Drop's Yard.

It's crazy to think we would get to have another game of minigolf in again until August 2020.

Happy National Pencil Day

Today is National Pencil Day!

Minigolf pencils from our travels

Here's a selection of minigolf pencils we've collected over years.

We enjoy visiting courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and it's marvellous when we find one that has a branded pencil to score the game with.

Pencils and promotional scratchcards from Congo River Golf in Orlando, Florida, USA

It's a superb bit of minigolf marketing too.

A minigolf pencil from Christopher Gottfried's Crazy World of Minigolf Tour trip to Magic Carpet Golf in Galveston, Texas, USA

We've seen several minigolf courses switching to virtual scorecards (and scoreboards), and app-based scorecards. Others are using a mixture.

We think, and hope, there's space and a place for all methods of scoring to continue in the game.

Our friend Pat Sheridan from The Putting Penguin minigolf review website (among his many other hats in the game) has contributed quite a few pencils and scorecards to the Crazy Golf Museum that he's picked up on his own minigolf adventures.

One of the most peculiar minigolf pencils we've seen is this one Pat sent a snap of, as it's a real life pencil for a virtual minigolf game!

A pencil from the Walkabout Mini Golf VR game

If you'd like your minigolf course pencil (or other items of merch and ephemera) displayed and archived in the Crazy Golf Museum please do get in touch.

Just one of the many minigolf pencils in the Crazy Golf Museum - from the Wye Valley Miniatvre Golf course in Symonds Yat West

You can see more miniature golf course pens and pencils on the Crazy Golf Museum website.

A scorecard and pencils from Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf in Orlando, Florida, USA from our friend Shelley Barrett

Arnold Palmer Putting Courses Crazy Golf pencils from the course in Prestatyn

A pencil from Lumberjax Mini Golf in New Zealand from our friend James Astrop

A pencil from Urban Putt in San Francisco from our friend and minigolf rival (and sometimes team-mate) Kevin Moseley

A pencil from Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf

A minigolf pencil from Swing by Golfbaren in Stockholm, Sweden 

A pencil from Swingers Crazy Golf in London

A pencil from the CLUB GOLF crazy golf pop-up at Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross, London. This was the last course Richard played before the UK went into coronavirus pandemic lockdown / quarantine

A pencil from the Putt 18 indoor putting game - we played a lot of this during the pandemic

Hole in Wand Wizard Golf opening in Leeds

The team at The Hole In Wand Wizard Golf are opening a new indoor minigolf course at St John's Shopping Centre in Leeds, West Yorkshire this Summer.

You can currently find The Hole In Wand miniature golf courses in Blackpool, Chester, York and Seaham.

Visit The Hole in Wand website for more information.

We visit Leeds a lot and it'll be another new course for us to check out on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Roxy Ball Room opening at St Mary Axe in London

The latest Roxy Ball Room venue is opening at St Mary Axe in London on Thursday 10th April.

The new location at St Mary Axe - next to The Gherkin - in London will be home to a Crazy Pool course, as well as many of the brand's other popular games including Tech Darts, Ice-Free Curling and American Pool.

Crazy Pool is a mix of crazy golf and cue sports, with the game played on a table using a golf ball to tackle obstacles, and played with a cue rather than a putter.

We've played Crazy Pool at the Roxy Ball Room at the Manchester Arndale venue.

We've visited several of the Roxy locations on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - the first being the Leeds Boar Lane venue back in 2016.

You can find Roxy locations in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and York. The venues have a mix of games including Roxy Golf and Crazy Pool.

Check out the Roxy Ball Room website for more information on the venues, prices and opening times.

Mr Mulligans Space Golf in Newcastle upon Tyne

A look back at our visit to play at Mr Mulligans Space Golf course in Newcastle upon Tyne.

We swung by the Mr Mulligans Space Golf course in Newcastle upon Tyne on Miniature Golf Day 2018 to play the three courses at the indoor minigolf venue.

The three 9-hole courses on the adventure through Mr Mulligans Space Golf started at the 'Inventors Hangar', then moved through the 'Cosmic Storm' and onto the 'Lunar Crash'.

The theming at the course was really well done, with my favourite section being the Moon.

We've played several Mr Mulligans Adventure Golf courses on our travels, with the three layouts in Newcastle becoming the 841st, 842nd and 843rd visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. They were the 496th, 497th and 498th courses played.

You can find Mulligans minigolf courses in Basildon, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cheltenham, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Norwich, Sidcup, Stevenage, Tonbridge and Worcester.

Visit the Mulligans website for more information on the brand's courses.

New mini golf course in Huddersfield

A film-themed mini golf course is opening at The Light in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

Action Shots Mini Golf is a 10-hole indoor movie-themed course

The Light cinema and entertainment complex is opening in Huddersfield on Friday 11th April.

The new venue will include a film-themed mini golf course, as well as an arcade, tenpin bowling, high ropes challenge, interactive darts, skittles, street curling, batting cages, laser tag, shuffleboard, axe throwing and more!

Check out The Light Huddersfield's website for more information.

It's another new course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The C O U N T Y part of S T O C K P O R T

Spotting some more street art in Stockport.

We recently noticed some newly placed street art in the form of mosaic tiles spelling out "STOCKPORT" along Castle Street in Edgeley. It was a nice surprise to see it, and after a bit of research we found that the group behind the street art were Grit Studios, Mosaics in Manchester, Stockport County Community Trust, and The Writing Squad.

During another wander around our local area we spotted another "O", which led us to find other tile art letters that spelled out "COUNTY".

A trail map for the S T O C K P O R T letter mosaic artwork is coming soon...

Blockbuster Video returning to the UK (for four days)

KitKat is bringing a Blockbuster Video pop-up shop to Soho in London in April 2025.

The pop-up video shop is part of a nostalgia inspired campaign to launch KitKat's new sharing bars.

The shop will be located on Greek Street in Soho, London from Wednesday 9th to Saturday 12th April.

Check out the Nestlé website for more information about the KitKat/Blockbuster pop-up.

It'll be interesting to see what the KitKat/Blockbuster 'video shop' looks like.

During the pandemic our interest in lost brands and retail history was piqued and over the last five years we've been to several former Blockbuster Video stores around the UK.

At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 Blockbuster stores around the world. 500+ of which were in England, Scotland and Wales. Interestingly in Northern Ireland the Xtra-Vision brand was used by the owners in-line with the Republic of Ireland.

The last Blockbuster Video shop ceased trading in the UK in December 2013 and there is now only one Blockbuster Video store in the world - it's in Bend, Oregon, USA.

Nostalgia and lost brands

We've spent the last few years reminiscing about 'the good old days'. One of our areas of interest is in old retail brands - we're both marketers by profession and two of my first jobs in the 1990's and the year 2000 were at Tandy and Toys R Us, while Emily's first job was at a Happy Shopper shop. It's been fascinating to find remnants of these brands - and a number of other lost, dead and defunct brands - on the high street and at retail parks around the UK.

Playing Miniature Golf at Boondocks Fun Center in Northglenn, Colorado

Looking back at my visit to the Miniature Golf course at Boondocks Fun Center in Northglenn, Colorado, USA in 2009.

I played the two miniature golf courses at Boondocks Fun Center in the town of Northglenn, Colorado in March 2009.

My visit came during a trip to Denver to attend the week-long SportAccord conference in the city. During some downtime I travelled outside the city limits to play miniature golf in the Boondocks!

At the two courses at Boondocks Fun Center

As it was '$12 Tuesday' I had unlimited play on the minigolf courses - the 'Caverns Mill' and 'Hillbilly Hallow' - that sit next to Interstate-25. I managed to fit in three rounds on the two layouts.

The courses became the 82nd and 83rd played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

A token from Boondocks

Check out the Boondocks Fun Center website for more information, opening times and prices.

Baseball Mini Golf in Solna, Sweden

A look at the minigolf course at O'Leary's bar and entertainment centre at the Mall of Scandinavia in Solna.

We visited our 801st minigolf course and 32nd overseas at O'Leary's bar and entertainment centre at the Mall of Scandinavia in Solna, Stockholm, Sweden in February 2018.

The Sports World Minigolf course was a 14-hole indoor layout with sports themed holes. One of them was based on baseball.

Visit the O'Leary's website for more information.