Drinking

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[edit] Drinking in Chester

Drinking is undoubtedly one of Chester's favourite pastimes. Luckily, the city is literally showered with pubs and bars for you to spend your evenings in. We have everything from the old locals' bars with cheap and very strong lager and real ales to swanky new chain bars with no soul and expensive bottles of foreign lager. Yay!

Use this page as a starting point to browse through most (but not all) of the places in Chester where you can get a drink.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of places, so if you would like to add one, or if you are the landlord of a pub in Chester, then please add a new page. Just make sure that it is linked correctly or nobody will be able to find it.

HOWEVER, OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO GET EVERY PUB IN CHESTER LISTED ON THIS PAGE!

Finally, if you can't find a pub here, try Steve Howe's site on "Vanished Pubs". If that doesn't work try this directory of pubs in Chester

[edit] A Brief History...

The production and consumption of strong drink has long been enjoyed in Chester. We know nothing concerning the drinking places of the Roman occupants of the fortress of Deva Victrix, but much, perhaps, may be inferred from the Roman city of Pompeii, where there were said to be 900 bars (thermopolium) and taverns (tabernae) to serve a population of a few thousand, in addition to the seamen, travellers and traders of the port. Many of these establishments have been wonderfully preserved, down to the drinking vessels (sometimes chained to the bar to deter theft) and grafitti scratched upon their walls.

Granted, Pompeii was an affluent, settled civilian town at the heart of the empire whereas Deva was a frontier military fortress, but we do know that considerable quantities of wine were brought here from the continent and that the legions also became increasingly fond of a brew that had long been produced on these islands, cervese (beer). Accounts dating from AD 90-130 found at the fort of Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall show that considerable quantities of the stuff was purchased from local producers and one such, 'Atrectus the Brewer' (Atrectus Cervesarius) is the first named brewer in British history. There seems little reason to doubt that others just like him played their part in satisfying the thirsts of the thousands of soldiers, sailors, merchants and others here in the great fortress.

  • "Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Chester strode - The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road"

(G K Chesterton)

The Chester Chronicle for the year 789 notes:

  • dcclxxxix Primus Danorum educatus [adventus] in Angliam qui docuerunt Anglos nimis potare.
  • 789 The first arrival in England of the Danes, who taught the English to drink too much.

Much about the drinking establishments of Saxon Chester are an equal mystery to us- as the 19th century local historian Thomas Hughes wrote, "The Anglo-Saxons had their eala-hus (ale house), win-hus (wine house) and cumen-hus (inn) but there are no records of their whereabouts". We do know, however, that a variety of weak beer was the staple drink of the entire population, being safer than water, and the law in Chester - as recorded in the Domesday Book - stated that anyone brewing or selling bad ale would have to pay a fine of four shillings, or be forced to "sit in a chair full of dung" - "Malam cerevisiam faciens, in cathedra ponebatur stercoris." (certain modern brewers please note!). A chair mounted on the end of a long pole- the 'ducking stool'- was also utilised to repeatedly dunk bad brewers into filthy ponds. The fill quote reads:

  • Vir sive mulier falsam mensuram in civitate faciens, deprehensus, iiii. solidis emendabat. Similiter malam cervisiam faciens, aut in cathedra ponebatur stercoris, aut iiii. solidos dabat praepositis. Hanc forisfacturam accipiebat minister regis et comitis in civitate, in cujuscunque terra fuisset, sive episcopi sive alterius hominis. Similiter et theloneum, si quis illud detinebat ultra tres noctes, xl. solidis emendabat.

This Chester practice was referred to by MP Cuthbert Quilter (HANSARD 25 March 1896) during the then reading of the "Beer Adulteration Bill".

In the 14th century Chester Mystery Plays, Christ redeems a bunch of characters from Hell- apart from the brewer who heads straight for eternal damnation after admitting,

  • "Some time I was a tavener, A gentle gossip and a tapster, Of wine and ale a trusty brewer, Which woe hath me bewrought. Of cans I kept no true measure, My cups I sold at my pleasure, Deceiving many a creature, Tho' my ale were nought".

In 1655, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divided England and Wales into eleven areas and placed each under the authority of a major-general. These officers were instructed "to encourage and promote godliness and virtue" and, in conjunction with the other justices of the peace, to put the existing laws against drunkenness into more effectual execution. Later the officers were ordered to see that "no house standing alone and out of a town was to sell ale, beer or wine, or to give entertainment." The local regional officer was very severe on horse racing in Cheshire, where men have always liked horses, and he was equally severe on ale houses- his agents reported that in Cheshire they were "the places of receipt of wickedness, drunkenness, Sabbath breaking and other impieties"- and nearly 200 of them were suppressed in the city of Chester alone. Breweries were prohibited from selling beer to any suppressed or unlicensed ale house keeper. A desire for moral reform doubtlessly lay behind these actions but there was an additional reason for them- ale houses, and especially those standing alone and out of a town were considered to be possible places of association for Royalists and as such dangerous to a minority Government which verged very closely on dictatorship.

The Chester Directory for the year 1792 recorded around 140 inns in the small market town, and in 1858, Thomas Hughes recorded 36 trading in Northgate Street alone, and several considered by him ancient then continue to flourish today. There is an old and oft-repeated local saying that Victorian Chester boasted "a pub for every day of the year"... Nontheless, times- and the brewing industry- have changed and well-loved pubs continue to disappear or are 'improved' out of all recognition. Over 500 Chester pub names have been recorded over the centuries, but such evocative names as The Sun, Moon & Angel, The Dairy Maid, The Brewer's Dray, The Corkcutter's Arms and The Blackamore's Head have disappeared without trace. All is not bad news, however, and traditional British boozers- comfortable and affordable 'homes-from-home' where we can drink good beer, dress how we like and converse without having to bellow over someone else's bad taste in music- do still exist, even in Chester. Treasure them!

(from The Lost Pubs of Chester)

[edit] The List

A B C D E
F G H I J
K L M N O
P Q R S T
U V W Y Z

[edit] Pubs in the Chester Area

A B C D E
F G H I J
K L M N O
P Q R S T
U V W Y Z

[edit] Links

Here are lists of more lists of drinking places in Chester. If you know of more lists please feel free to add them:

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