Stars share memories of Chesterfield's legendary Aquarius nightclub

The Dirty Stop Outs have been busy over the past few months collecting anecdotes from entertainers, people who worked there or enjoyed nights at the once-revered Sheffield Road venue.

Robin Colvill of the hit comedy troupe, the Grumbleweeds, says the venue played a key role in their success: “We used to do a lot of gigs at the Aquarius – we’d perform three to four weeks every year. We were very popular – it was always heaving. Because of the Aquarius, we did a BBC Radio show and that led to a TV show.”

The Aquarius, which outlasted the majority of its peers, was demolished and all that remains are memories.

However, the legacy of the cabaret club – unlike that of rivals like Batley Variety Club and the Fiesta in Sheffield – is being preserved thanks to a £70,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund project.

Central to the Aquarius project has been the restoration and digitisation of hundreds of photos from the 1970s and 1980s that were taken by the club’s in-house photographer, David Miller.

Neil Anderson of the Dirty Stop Outs said: “The Aquarius shaped the lives of generations of local people in the Chesterfield area over many years, and it has been a privilege to capture their incredible memories as part of this project.”

The coming months are set to see the publication of a new book, the launch of a website, an exhibition, and events to celebrate the legacy of the Aquarius.