Famous Chesterfield nightclub Aquarius to reopen dancefloor for one night only

The Aquarius retro reunion night will take place in November after the original night had to be postponed due to lockdown.

Original tickets are still valid – with more than half of the tickets already snapped up for the event to celebrate the launch of a special book celebrating the popular venue.

Neil Anderson’s Dirty Stop Outs Guide to 1980s Chesterfield – Aquarius Edition became his fastest selling online book ever when it was released a few months ago, with orders coming in from as far away as Canada and Australia.

He said: “I think the book became a much-needed distraction from lockdown and gave people a chance to relive nights out of old.

“The Aquarius was such a massive part of the Chesterfield night scene for so many years and it has been fantastic that the book has been so well received so far.

The Sheffield Road venue first opened in 1972 as a cabaret club and played host to some of the biggest stars of the era.

By the 1980s, it was arguably more popular for its nightclub which enjoyed packed houses every weekend for much of the era with coaches turning up from right around the region.

Venue outlasted many others

Neil said: “Few clubs anywhere created memories like Aquarius.

“It was a byword for after-dark enjoyment and entertainment for tens of thousands of people down the decades.

“Scores of buses used to leave the town centre every Friday and Saturday as they ferried the hordes in the direction of the glitzy nightspot.”

The Aquarius outlasted scores of other venues in the town, before finally shutting for the last time in the 1990s.

The reunion is at Marsden Street’s Real Time Live on Saturday, November 6.

The Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1980s Chesterfield – Aquarius Edition is available from dirtystopouts.com, priced £13.95.

Tickets for the Aquarius reunion are available from realtimelive.co.uk, priced £8.

Neil is also urging Eighties clubbers to dig out their old pictures for his next project, a 1980s’ Chesterfield photo album.

He said: “I’m devoting a chapter of the forthcoming Dirty Stop Outs Guide to 1980s’ Chesterfield – In Pictures to snaps from the Woolworths photo booth, which was an institution in the era.”

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