Oddballs

I don’t really see this as a shop, it’s more of a playground — you just have to give them money to take the toys away with you.
I’ve been spinning and building Poi for about 5 – 6 years and always come down here to get any supplies I need. I also like that every time I come down here I end up seeing a new gizmo or performance toy to think about trying to learn. Sadly, right now I don’t have the tie to branch out, but it’s always good to stay abreast of these things.
The staff are absolute legends here and go above and beyond to help you or offer suggestions. They also sell a lot of training videos which I wish I had when I was starting out. Prices are reasonable for the items and they also have a range of long boards for sale.
Certainly a great shop to stop by to pick up something to play with over the summer and get you out into the sunshine.

Colourful Kensington Gardens stalwart selling a wide range of skateboards, juggling balls, devil sticks, skates and kites. I like to stand in here and gaze in every direction — there are so many different hobbies festooned from the walls you find yourself regressing! If you’re looking for a skateboard the chap who looks like like an extra from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is your man. He’s the owner and very helpful when it comes to choosing your first skateboard or rediscovering your old skate feet. I’m going to buy my son a skateboard and can’t think of a better shop to start him off.

Oh my goodness gracious! Devil Sticks! When I was a child, I had an assortment of hobbies. I collected Pogs, I played with Yo-Yo’s, I tried to learn to juggle with oranges, I threw Silly Putty around my kitchen, I had a go at Hacky Sack, and I was addicted to Devil Sticks. This is my childhood in a single shop.
When I walked in, a single tear came out of the corner of my right eye. If you want to pick up a hobby, or take up a hobby that you abandoned back in the mid-90’s, this is the place to go. Two years ago, I had an interest in Poi Balls, but never took it up as a hobby. Well, there were Poi Balls here, and my impulsiveness made me buy them. I obviously haven’t outgrown this, but I think this is just a magnificent store.

Yay. I like juggling and what a grand juggling shop this is. Its nice to have a shop around where the stuff actually has a practical use (kind of), as all this stuff from skate wear, to juggling clubs (of every shape, size and colour) to Frisbees is both good fun and good exercise. You just have to put up with a few months of shameless dropping things and being bruised, and then (if you don’t mind the occassional jipe from a Brighton flâneur) your away; circus star and balancer extraordinaire of all things wobbly and wheely.

I’m way too clumsy to ever learn to juggle, but hey, a girl can dream.
Oddballs is packed full of any kind of thing that you can throw. As well as juggling balls, there’s poi, diablo, frisbees… even knives. There’s also a skating section.
The whole place really fascinates me — from its bright blue exterior to the minutiae of the array of hobbies on offer here. I imagine the people who pack the Level in summer juggling and spinning poi get their equipment from here. Maybe, one day, I’ll pluck up the courage to try and learn too.

I always walk past this shop and think– boy’s stuff. Isn’t that terrible! I have been successfully gender constructed so that I see everything in terms of blue things and pink things… oh, dear! I am sexist towards myself and actually reverse sexist towards men. So after that awful realisation, I had to go into the shop. It wasn’t just me actually, I thought the shop had a masculine vibe from the outside, but once inside it intensified– the colours and décor are very masculine and the staff didn’t look at me twice, although they could always be like that! Paranoia? Anyway, it is a great and impressive array of juggling paraphenalia, as well as supplies for other oddball ‘sports’ like kites, diablos, frisbees, skateboards, inline skates. My boyfriend always stops and looks at the skate shoes they have displayed outside– they often have some good deals. Pretty much every unusual sport is represented, and that is a good thing. I still think they are sending out a boy’s vibe though…

I don’t know if the name Odd Balls refers to the juggling paraphernalia sold in the shop, or to the owner/​assistant inside. He was a very nice chap, but I think eccentric is a good word to describe him!
Stepping inside you’re entering into a world of boyish hobbies, such as juggling, skateboarding, inline skating, Diablo sticks and fire staffs. These are all the type of hobbies loved by that leftfield dude with the dreads who lives in your halls in the first year of university.
I used to inline skate and the brands on offer were good; K2, Roces and Bauer. The stock tends to be taken from the previous years’ catalogue, which means you may have to look elsewhere if you want the most up-​to-​date products. Otherwise, you’ll find a good selection of gear that will keep you happy — you oddballs!

To juggle or not to juggle?
You might assume there wouldn’t be enough jugglers to justify opening a juggling shop but Oddballs have been supplying aspiring circus performers for over 25 years now. Their original flagship store in the North Laines is a jugglers wet dream as they stock a wide selection of juggling balls, rings, sticks, clubs and bar flares. For those that have perfected their juggling and fancy trying something else, they have diablos, poi spinners, devil sticks, knives, spinning plates, hacky sacks, stilts, walking ladders and uni cycles.
For the uninitiated — like me — there’s also hula hoops and advanced yo yo’s!