'Wicked' nights in a place that was always packed - revellers recall the good times at Chesterfield's former Department club

Eerie photos of how a former nightclub in Chesterfield looks nowadays after hosting its last dance a decade ago have brought back fond memories for revellers who partied there.
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The Derbyshire Times was given unrestricted access to snoop around the disused Department nightclub on Cavendish Street, Chesterfield, before the premises goes up for auction on Thursday, May 26.

Our photos showed the dancefloor with its DJ booth and balloon net suspended above, empty beer bottles and barrels.

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Mark PT Else posted: “Many fond memories of Dj'ing in that dance room, smashing those beats out. Also miss doing some "sets” in Elements around the corner too. Those are the years when a night out was actually a night out. Miss it so much.”

Inside the former Department nightclub as it looks nowadays.Inside the former Department nightclub as it looks nowadays.
Inside the former Department nightclub as it looks nowadays.

Oliver Rimington wrote: “I’ve got a hangover just looking at these photos, great memories.”

Aaron Boler commented: “Plenty of memories in that place, the good old days, was in there most weekends and it was always packed, not like town nowadays; it’s like a ghost town compared to how it was back then.”

A place for socialising as well as drinking and dancing, Department was where Francesca McCann first met the man who was to become her husband.

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Michelle Eyre simply called it: “Best nightclub” while Lee Seston posted: “I’ve had many wicked nights in there."

The building used to house Zanzibar nightclub in the Nineties (photo: Chesterfield Borough Council/Chesterfield Museum)The building used to house Zanzibar nightclub in the Nineties (photo: Chesterfield Borough Council/Chesterfield Museum)
The building used to house Zanzibar nightclub in the Nineties (photo: Chesterfield Borough Council/Chesterfield Museum)

The premises, which closed as a cinema in the Nineties after 60 years, was home to Zanzibar and Escapade nightclubs before it became Department.

Leslie-ian Dillingham said: “This will forever in my memory be Zanzibar. Gawd I loved this place. It was the last nightclub I went to in Chesterfield that you could guarantee it would be busy. The drinks were cheap and the choice in music was amazing.”

Rachael Vaughan said: “The best times in the Zanzibar!! Town was the best night out in the early noughties!!”

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With a £270,000 price tag plus fees on the building, the cost may be beyond the reach of a lot of former revellers – but they can still dream.

Becki Trickett said: “I had a lot of younger brilliant memories at this place. If I won the lottery I would spend money on this place.”

Emma Louise posted: “Wish I had the money to buy it and me be the DJ.”

Perhaps a group of former Department/Escapade/Zanzibar die-hards could club together to raise the readies…

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*Do you have old photos of your nights out in Chesterfield clubs? Send them with your memories to: [email protected]

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