CHESTERFIELD PUB STUFF
These pages will contain information on several hundred current and former pubs in the modern borough of Chesterfield. Looking through the list, I seem to have been in most of them at one time or another. Most of these pubs are lost forever, but new “licensed premises” (I shy away from calling them pubs – you’d know what I mean if you’ve been in them) are opening in the town centre. It seems that, rather than let a building stand empty, the local authorities will let any old Tom, Dick or Harriet open a bar in it.
In 1835 the borough had 46 pubs and 12 beerhouses. The borough was tiny, then, by comparison to today’s extended area, and it was reckoned that you could stand in the town centre and be no more than a ten-minute walk from the furthest borough boundary. Successive expansions took in Brampton, Newbold & Dunston, Whittington, Brimington and Staveley, greatly expanding the number of licensed houses in the borough.
From 1904 onwards, magistrates attempted to deal with drunkenness in the town by closing the most run-down or disreputable inns. In 1919 there were 72 fully-licensed ale houses and 39 beerhouses among a total of 127 licensed premises. Licenses of town centre establishments were transferred to “estate” pubs in the expanding borough, or simply allowed to lapse, where it was felt that adequate provision existed. It was reckoned that, in 1919, there were twenty alehouses within 200 yards of the Anchor Inn, on St Mary’s Gate.
I came to Chesterfield as a young adult and there were still many comparatively undeveloped places of character left, like The Bridge Inn, The Buck, The Galleon Club and, of course, The Barley Mow, but the late 1980s fad for refurbishment of pubs hit Chesterfield pretty hard. Many fine places became one-room dives, with unbearably loud music and few seats. These days they seem to want people to come in for one drink of something fluorescent (out of a bottle, ideally) and leave, as quickly as possible. Judging by the antics of most customers on their way from one to the next, it seems as though few places are equipped with toilets. Some of these places seem to remain closed between Sunday and Thursday – I wonder if their owners have any idea why?
Meanwhile, long-standing pubs continue to fall –literally, in the case of Walton’s White Hart, which became derelict in no time. Others remain boarded up and await redevelopment. Yet more close apparently at random and with alarming frequency while awaiting the appointment of new tenants, an uncertain fate at best. Many – The Poplar, for instance – are converted into private houses.
If I do sound rather like a “beer bore”, that’s not my intention. Recent refurbishments of places like The Rutland and The Phoenix have produced fine pubs. Yet, my drinking culture was founded in a time when you went somewhere, and often stopped there for the whole evening. You talked to your mates; you took it steady but you still went home plum tuckered. The idea of losing drinking time by moving from one pub to another received scant consideration. Looking back to 1919, when there were 127 licensed premises in the borough, there were only 67 prosecutions for drunkenness. This was double the number in the last year of the Great War, though, and local magistrates felt bound to act. These days, it seems, you’d get that many prosecutions in a month! Modern pub culture seems to me to be loud, boorish and saddled with more casual violence than twenty years ago – when there were some pretty unpleasant people about in the town!
I will attempt to add links to the alphabetical pub page posts in an effort to render a trawl through the archives unneccessary. Bear with me, since I'm no expert.
SOURCES
Some years ago a local pub historian (I hope he doesn't mind the description!) named John Hirst published a couple of pamphlets about lost pubs of the area. These provided a skeleton for research into lost pubs, while my fondness for ale has helped with researching those still open! The Local Studies Library holds much in its collections of use to researchers; old newspapers, trade directories and maps have all been used to expand my knowledge. The local branch of CAMRA has a fine website here that contains much of interest to the pub researcher, and genealogy-based websites have allowed searches of census material and further access to old maps and the like. Some stories have been added from other people; if you've one you'd like to add, use the "comment" facility at the bottom of each alphabetical category.
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