Old Pubs In Chester City Centre
Following on from my recent pubs no longer with us in Chester city centre post – see the original post HERE – here are a few other old pubs in Chester city centre no longer with us. As I mentioned in my earlier posts I know there are no doubt plenty more, but these are the ones I remember in my social lifetime.
And also to reiterate, there is a fantastic informative website giving you so much more information than I have in these couple of posts. Here’s the link to some great old pubs information on Chester Walls website. My posts are more from my own experiences with a bit of feedback from other readers.
Anyway, old pubs in Chester city centre. let’s get going on the next chapter.
Old Pubs In Chester
Old Pubs in Chester city centre no longer with us. Credit to www.chesterwalls.info for the photo.
Again, when I say pubs I do include wine bars in this as well. It was quite enlightening to hear from some readers that they had never heard of Pierre Griffe’s or The Pump Room or Dukes. Still so fresh in my mind but clearly before their time for others. Ah…..(heavy sigh) a sign I’m getting old!!! NB: “What do you mean ‘getting’?
Anyway, what about these other old pubs in Chester? Well, in no particular order of preference or otherwise, the first I’m going to mention is the Tavern In The Town. Before it was called the Tavern In The Town it was called The Bars (before my time……honestly!!). The Tavern was located in Boughton next to the dentists. It’s been knocked down and replaced by flats. Not exactly sure when though.
Now my overriding memory of the Tavern In The Town was that it was the final stop off point before entering Kings nightclub above it. Wow, what a place Kings was. Again, funny how some instances stick in your mind. I vividly remember there was free Greenalls Bitter (served in a chunky pot glass) and free cider before 9.30pm on a Sunday. There was a makeshift bar at the top of the stairs. If I remember correctly, Neil Hayes was the DJ. Can anyone confirm this?
After it’s days as Tavern In The Town it became Tiffany’s nightclub. “Tiffs” itself later went on to become Cinderella Rockerfella. Heavy sigh…..and a quick pause to reminisce. What great times.
I think a post on old Chester nightclubs is on the horizon.
What Other Old Pubs In Chester?
What about the Kings Head? Now, I imagine some of you are saying, “he’s wrong, he’s wrong….the Kings Head is still there in Lower Bridge Street”. Correctamundo!! But the wrong Kings Head. Yes, there were two.
The other one was opposite where The Falcon is on the corner of White Friars. My lasting memory of the “other” Kings Head (was this one called “Ye Olde Kings Head?”) was how good the Mild was. Younger readers will no doubt be asking, “what’s Mild?”
Again, a heavy sigh moment!!
But wait, geographically I’ve missed a couple. Turn back down Bridge Street and opposite the current Kings Head there was the mega popular Talbot pub. Back when I nervously went into these places at the tender age of…..ahem….16 there were three “must visit” Scottish and Newcastle pubs on the pub crawl route. The Boathouse, the aforementioned Talbot and The Vic on The Cross.
It shows how long ago all this was. My ex brother-in-law took me under his wing on my very first visit to The Boathouse. His worldly advice while in there as I’m stood at the bar, sweating profusely, gawping like a goldfish and (in my mind) looking 16 was “ask for the Scotch Bitter”. So I did and success!!! I got served!!!
Afterwards when I asked him why he advised Scotch Bitter I thought I would be receiving my first life lesson in the quality of cask bitters. But alas, not the case. There were three bitters to choose from in Scottish and Newcastle pubs. They were, Tartan, McEwans and Scotch. So why Scotch? Quite simply, Tartan was 16p, McEwans was 15 and a half pence and….wait for it…. Scotch was 15p!!! It was a money saving tip!! Priceless (pardon the pun).
How I miss my ‘wet behind the ears, naive days’.
Clavertons
After The Talbot closed there was a feeling that a big gap had been created. Not to worry though. The Talbot was replaced by Clavertons. Primarily a wine bar it did sell beer. Well, beer of a sort. It was JW Lees!! Let me put the record straight here. Lees beer is OK nowadays but back in the 80’s it was a real “no, no” normally. Lees bars were to be avoided. It spoke volumes as to how popular Clavertons was as the place was always heaving. It was without doubt one of the ‘places to be seen’.
As bad as the bitter was, Clavertons redeemed itself by serving the then popular German lager Lowenbrau. So, everyone drank Lowenbrau (or as it was quite strong, it was known as “Laughing Brew”). All very German sounding and German tasting, but brewed in Wrexham I believe.
Although The Talbot was sorely missed it wasn’t missed for long as Clavertons was mega. Not sure when Clavertons went but to walk down Bridge Street now to see offices and shops there brings back so many memories.
Sadly Missed Pub and Wine Bar
Making your way up Bridge Street and about 200 yards from the other Kings Head were two establishments that were bouncing ‘back in the day’ as they say. Sir Edwards wine bar was on one side of Volunteer Street about half way up Bridge Street on the left hand side, while Barlows (a proper pub) was on the other corner of Volunteer Street.
Both were really popular. My favourite was Barlows. Not knocking Sir Edwards as that was well worth a visit, but pubs were more my thing rather than wine bars. Towards the end of Barlows days I always enjoyed a Saturday ‘early doors’ in there at about 5.30pm with Tim and Gary from Nickleby’s clothes shop next door and Mehmet the landlord. Top blokes each one of them. Still see Mehmet knocking about.
Northgate Street
A couple of weeks ago I was reading an article on what I thought was about all the old pubs in Chester no longer with us. There were loads. And I mean loads. It was bonkers. As I was reading the article though I realised the article wasn’t about old pubs in Chester generally though. It was about old pubs in Northgate Street only. Give me a minute and I’ll see if I can find the link again. Bear with me.
Here you go. Take a look at that lot……..HERE. Wow, incredible isn’t it. It was virtually pub on top of pub. Have a read of the linked article. It’s a great read. Even more great information from Chester Walls.
The only pub I remember from Northgate Street in my ‘dancing around handbags’ days (no, I never had a handbag before you ask) was the Ship and Turtle. Location wise it was on Northgate Street Row above the entrance to Rosie’s. About where the Scented Garden shop is now.
The Ship and Turtle was tiny. But cosy. As it happened, I knew one of the members of staff who worked in there. She was a neighbour of ours. So every now and then she used to let us enter “The Jazzy” (Wall City Club…aka…Quaintways) and subsequently Rendezvous via a sneaky side entrance in The Ship.
Bit Too Posey For Me
Onto Eastgate Street and into the Grosvenor Hotel. About 50 yards or so after walking into the entrance there were some steps that took you down to a bar. A bar called Harvey’s. As the heading above says it was a bit too posey for me. It probably wasn’t but as they served drinks I’d not heard of before (Lowenbrau. Harvey’s came before Clavertons so hadn’t heard of “Laughing Brew” at the time) it seemed it.
It was more of a couples bar with cosy little cubby holes around the place to have a cosy chat. Still, this was very popular in it’s day. Lasting memory? Me and an old pal of mine were in there one Sunday night when two ‘older’ women came in and stood by us at the bar. They started a conversation with us but very quickly dismissed our company when they found out how old we were.
They were 21….we were 19!!
Just Out Of The City Centre
Another sorely missed ‘proper’ pub now a gonna is the Jolly Miller. Maybe just off the city centre but nevertheless a popular pub. Not being a darts player, I believe it was a good darts pub. I do recall though they always had a decent Sunday Football League team.
Just realised my quick trip down Memory Lane to discuss some of the old pubs in Chester has stretched to over 1,500 words (longer than my old school essays!!). It’s easy to get carried away isn’t it. Mind you I’ve enjoyed brushing away the cobwebs and recalling some of the old pubs in Chester that were part of my social evolution.
I know only too well some people reading this will have their own fond (and not so fond maybe) memories of these places. Give me a shout with your own memories. Or, failing that, I know there’s a fair chance I’ll bump into some of you while I’m out and about and we can have a reminisce then.
Oh, hang on a minute…..
Old Pubs In Chester Feedback
My good pal and regular website visitor, John, has been in touch with his recollections of a pub called The Woolpack. And no, it isn’t about a fictitious Yorkshire village close to Leeds. No siree. This Woolpack was a popular pub in Northgate Street.
Have a read of what John had to say…..
Chester Lifestyle
I hope you enjoy reading my old pubs in Chester posts on my Chester Lifestyle website. If you would like more information about the website and the beautiful city of Chester in general though, then have a look at this link HERE.
Things To Do In Chester
As you would expect, there’s always plenty of things to do in an historic city like Chester. Visiting quality pubs is one of the things to do. For more details though, here’s a link for some ideas of things to do in Chester HERE.
And going off on a complete tangent and as this is Chester related website. Here’s the “help support a local small business” section.
As This Is A Chester Related Website
As this is a Chester related website, you may be looking for the ideal Chester related gift for your loved ones. If so, then have a look at my Chester section of my new Etsy store. You can find out more about my Etsy store HERE.
Plenty of originally created downloadable digital artwork for you to have a look at HERE. And, as I say, a variety of Chester related products to choose from. Like this artwork image of Chester Bandstand in The Groves:
