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It was hard to miss Chesterfield’s thriving punk scene in the early ‘80s - it was a jaw-dropping mix of day-glo hair, painted motorbike jackets and DIY bands.

Much of it centred around bars like the Hare & Greyhound – the former pub that sat in the shadow of the Crooked Spire.

It was a magnet for punks, bikers and other youth tribes of the era.

By around 1983 things went up a gear with the arrival of Tuesday nights at the White Swan/Mucky Duck. These seemed to turn Chesterfield into a regional epi-centre for the punk/alternative scene and packed houses were regular at the White Swan.

Hair-raising styles made their mark on the punk scene in Chesterfield.

The pub’s gigs provided a launch pad for local acts like Criminal Sex and No Dead Meat and attracted national bands like the English Dogs, Disorder and Rubella Ballet.Even Screaming Lord Sutch performed.

The White Swan powers that be hired out the sprawling Goldwell Rooms for a punk/alternative extravaganza with everyone from Billy Bragg to Flux of Pink Indians on the bill.

Stephen Quinn, who sadly passed away recently, was a cornerstone of the scene from the late 1970s. His band, Criminal Sex, were in big demand and were a regular fixture. They even had one high-profile trip to tote their musical wares around Europe.

Though you generally had to travel further afield to find a weekend nightclub that would accommodate alternative fashion in the era, Chesterfield did have its ‘Gotham City’ night at Fascination nightclub. Again it was a Tuesday night and would be a colourful mix of goths and punks.

The early 80s were a time of the Miner’s Strike, the visit of Charles & Di and a thriving Brampton Mile pub crawl – many still remember Chatsworth Road’s Three Horse Shoes pub and its legendary ‘Looney Juice’ that had an almost hypnotic pull over the alternative scene.

The period wasn’t kind to the area’s economy but to the young generation it was a time of plenty – Hudsons and Connection Records provided vinyl in abundance; the arrival of the ‘video nasty’ provided house delights as long as you could afford the video player and cut price horror films at the ABC on a Friday morning for the unemployed was nothing short of heaven sent.

Spot anyone you know from Chesterfield's punk scene of the 80s?