Introduction
This past November I made one of my bi-annual (or so) visits to ole Scott Readman Concepts HQ. As usual, the visit was jam packed with activity to make the most of less than two days. I was in the Jolly Ole UK for my day job in the Birmingham area, so I naturally spent the majority of my week around there looking for the Peaky Blinders before I made my way to Bristol. No Peaky Blinders were found, but I did end up at the actual Garrison Pub in Small Heath on one random adventure.
Once my work week was over, following a suitcase disaster that required emergency laundry assistance (shout out, Tina, you heroic legend) and a pair of British Adidas Sambas (different than we know them in ‘Murica), I hopped a train down to Bristol. A highlight of this adventure is always walking out of the Bristol Parkway train station and seeing 6’13” Scott Readman emerge from a tiny Toyota. After a week of busy chaos and jetlag, it feels familiar, comforting, and hilarious. We’re officially on the clock.
The First Stop
I’m now in the car with Scott on the way back to HQ winding through some outskirts of a British city that feels almost American with its strip malls and highway traffic. As we pass a standalone driving range Scott used to work at, I get a FaceTime from my family back home checking in before their day starts. This gives Scott a minute to check in with them as well before we pull into a “car park” at some giant shopping center that contains a Subway sandwich shop. Don’t worry, they managed to mess up Scott’s BMT.
With sandwiches in tow, as well as Cadbury Dairy Milk and Red Bull for me, we pull into Trubody’s Yard and I notice there are a couple of extra cars. In my head, I hope one of them is my good friend, John Butler, but I don’t recognize the second parked in front of Scott’s building. That lack of recognition only lasted a minute. As soon as I was walked into the building, I immediately identified the specimen of a human sitting in the office. It was none other than English rugby legend, and fellow SRC team member, Matt Banahan! Matt’s a good friend of the SRC folks and we finally got to cross paths. I could go on for days, but Matt is a lovely human and I was ecstatic we finally got to cross paths. I’ll leave it at that for now.
Of course, my guy John Butler was also there! It’s a weird experience sitting around chatting with John, Matt, Emma, and Scott. While I barely see these people, and only just met Matt in person, it feels very familiar and like we’ve all been part of each others’ lives for years. It doesn’t escape me how fortunate I am to have this life experience. Unfortunately, I had to retreat to my accommodations located next door to do some work and my time was limited with Matt and John on this visit.
Day 1
After putting a couple of hours of work in, I ventured back to a now empty shop aside from Scott and Emma. That didn’t last long, however, as a new friend was soon to join the activities. We’ll call him “Rosso.” In short, Rosso is probably about as close as you’re going to find to my exact clone in the UK. Of course, he’s a few years older and much better looking, but otherwise the same.
Rosso and I have a shared interest in golf nerdom, craft beers, and hockey. The latter being quite the rarity in England. As such, Rosso arrived with a handful of interesting British craft beers (the Cereal Milk IPA was awful, Rosso) and an additional gift. Said gift was impressively thoughtful – a game-worn Cardiff Devils hockey jersey! For reference, the Cardiff Devils are professional team that plays out of the UK-based Elite Ice Hockey League – not a big deal. Won’t find many of these around my neck of the woods…
Day 1 concluded with pizza, some beers, and healthy debates on every topic in golf. After everyone left, I opened a special beer I was gifted from a co-worker earlier in the week. It’s from a brewery called “Daniel Batham and Son” out of the West Midlands and it’s called “Bathams Best Bitter.” Long story short, this beer is highly coveted and circulated in a very small circle by the brewery. Hats off, Bathams Best Bitter is a fantastic beer.
Weird note on the pizza. They ordered it from Papa John’s (in England!), and while it was similar to a Papa John’s in the US, it was different enough to actually be edible. Like Papa John’s in America, they sold cups of garlic butter but called it “garlic and herb dip.” Make sure you pronounce the “H” in herb… Unsurprisingly, the wildly artificial and manufactured garlic tasted exactly the same – and was delicious.
Day 2
After catching up on some sleep, I headed back over to Scott Readman Concepts HQ for Day 2. Scott’s kids were at the shop and I spent the next 30 minutes or so being made fun of for talking funny and my odd word choices. Strangely, it was somehow a blow to my self esteem being bullied by an 8 and 5 year old. Must have something to do with being a fish out of water, but all in good fun.
After a check-in with Scott’s mother (wonderful woman) and dropping the kids off, we ran a few errands. Our first stop was this – for lack of a better term – vegetable stand. It’s really more a giant plot behind a stone wall with these mini greenhouses and buildings. Next to it is a MASSIVE manor that has since been broken up into smaller “flats.” Apparently the soil is unique because this area of the grounds was where the ashes would be dumped from the various fireplaces in the building(s) over a hundred years. The whole thing is quite the sight in an English countryside and so stereotypical like it came straight from a BBC America show. We picked up an eclectic assortment of vegetables in nondescript brown bags and headed back to HQ.
Afternoon at Scott Readman Concepts HQ
Upon our return to HQ, Emma’s parents dropped by to say hello. EVERY SINGLE TIME, it’s eerie how similar they are to my own parents. As always, it was great catching up with them and hearing the tales of their journeys.
The routine of these Bristol trips is usually a chaotic “I’M HERE!” Friday evening. Saturday is usually the “ok, let’s get you up to speed with Scott Readman Concepts.” The interesting update this time around is that the expansion of the office is currently underway. Scott showed me around the “new” space and walked me through their plans. I won’t give away too much detail, but at the very least, it’s going to be a fun setup!
An added bonus to this additional space is that they have more room to store things. Scott opened the door to one of the rooms and there were PILES of different headcovers. Some of the classic SRC favorites, some waiting to make their debut. Next to those piles are boxes of SRC hats. (Naturally, a couple of those snuck into my suitcase.) From a golf nerd’s perspective, it’s definitely “kid in a candy store” stuff.
My Favorite Part of the Visit…Obviously
Saturday also tends to be the day where we have more of a settled plan. I’ve managed to case the joint and see what new stuff is lingering around! More importantly, Scott and Emma usually have a few special “bits and bobs” (so English of me) they put together for me to take take home. Some things you’d expect, some things are way out of left field which makes it even better.
The first thing Scott had for me was a block of African Sapele wood. Now, follow along here. This wood was actually from aforementioned John Butler’s garage and he gave it to Scott. While Scott has some Sapele projects in the works, he sent a block home with me with some minimal SRC stamping as a project to finish. I’ll probably make it into a small putter cover rack, but regardless, it’s a weird random tie-in of something from Scott and John Butler that will be a truly unique piece.
Another random thing is this square washer. The story goes, days before I was due in, Scott saw this laying on the shop floor and thought, “I’m going to stamp that up and give it to Bill Bush.” (Side note: I’m almost strictly “Bill Bush” over there.) Again, totally random, and literally off the shop floor, but still cool. The current idea is to integrate it into my block of Sapele.
The next “things” they had for me were the above covers. I’d say these have been in the works somewhere around 2 years. I’d originally brought an old jacket of my daughter’s to England a couple of years ago and it had been hanging next to Emma’s desk ever since. It would always be weird when SRC would post something on social media and there it was hanging in the background. On a later trip, I added some of my son’s pajamas from when he was a baby. We finally figured out a plan where Emma could squeak out three covers and a “valuables pouch” from the material. The rest is history. A good sentimental recycle of something that would have been otherwise discarded/donated.
Updating the Scott Readman Concepts Historical Collection
So technically, this fits into the section above, but I wanted to highlight a couple things on their own. I’ve been connected with Scott and Emma now for almost six years. As close as I’ve become with the people, I was first drawn to the SRC brand because I dig its style and I thoroughly believe in the product. As such, I’ve enjoyed piecing together a collection of things that I feel are definitive to the brand. That’s where these two things come into play.
The first thing is this Scott Readman Concepts ETP putter. I originally wrote a post about this barn find (click here) if you want more detail on the putter. I was more than pleased to bring one of these home with me as it felt like an ETP was needed to round out the collection. The ETP is an important point in SRC’s history.
There are two major things I’ve felt like my SRC collection has been missing for quite some time. One of which, I warned that I will eventually take possession of one way or another – even if that means stealing it. I feel like years of sending that message is fair warning, no? Then there are these:
There have always been a small collection of putter covers around SRC HQ that Scott and/or Emma actually hand painted. Some have made it into the wild, some are just for show. Either way, their existence is well known and I’ve always felt like my “premiere SRC collection” had a massive hole in it not having one of these. As such, I ended up coming home with these two and I think they’re the perfect addition.
Final Thoughts
We finished our Saturday night grilling some burgers at Scott’s using a grill rub I brought over on a previous visit, and tiny shallots we bought at the crazy manor earlier. After a few more hours of conversation regarding god knows what, I was in an Uber back to my place. It wasn’t too late, but I had to pack everything up (which was a nightmare) and prepare for my early wake-up call to head home. Still not sure how I got my suitcase packed based on quantity of candy alone.
Naturally, the anxiety of traveling the next day kept me up all night, but I eventually made it home. Of course, less than 24 hours later, my time at Scott Readman Concepts headquarters felt like a blur. It was great to check in and see what’s going on, and based on what I saw, 2020 will see some pretty sweet stuff from Scott Readman Concepts. I look forward to seeing the progress next time over!
