Stories and anecdotes about Chesterfield’s best known pubs feature in a new handy pocket-sized book.

Historical Tales and Traditional Ales by Shaun Stevenson and Chris Fox is a reworking of their successful first booklet, retaining the self-guided pub tour theme, but with a new route and three new venues to visit.

Eight well-known town centre pubs are covered in the book which also touches on the history of some watering holes that have been lost over the yers. Tales of murders and hauntings, famous and infamous local characters, long forgotten pub names and humorous yarns are in abundance. The information contained within its pages has been taken from verbal histories, old books and reference material, as well as details gleaned from the Derbyshire Times archives.

The book follows almost the same route as Shaun’s guided Chesterfield Great Historic Pub Tour, a monthly crawl that takes place from May until September each year. Shaun said: “I'm not aware of another blind guy providing pub tours anywhere else in the UK,” and he quipped: “I'm aware of the irony of a blind man leading the blind drunk!"

Chris Fox, left, and and Shaun Stevenson with their new book, Historical Tales and Traditional Ales.

placeholder image — Chris Fox, left, and and Shaun Stevenson with their new book, Historical Tales and Traditional Ales.

Shaun has recently been posting potted history videos about the Lost Pubs of Chesterfield on social media. “The videos have been a tremendous success, literally hundreds of thousands of views. I can’t go through town without someone recognising me and expressing their genuine interest,” he said.

Starting at The Rutland Arms in the shadow of the Crooked Spire, the updated book takes its reader to the Saints Bar, The Pig & Pump, Ye Royal Oak, The Market pub, Gasoline American Bar, the Chesterfield Arms and finishes at The Neptune Beer Emporium.

Chris said: “The landlords and landladies of these fine establishments have paid for these books to be printed and the small profit they make from the sale of books will go back into keeping them open. We appreciate their support and feel sure that their copies will sell out quickly.”

As the graphic designer behind the new publication, Chris said: “I found some great old photographs and maps to include in the book. We are also delighted to have approval to use some of the exquisite drawings created by local artist Helen Gerrard of Mermaid Tales. Her quirky artwork gives the front cover a really mysterious charm - a perfect picture to accompany Shaun’s fascinating histories”.

The updated book has 40 pages and is more comprehensive than the original which came out a couple of years ago. Shaun said: “We were pleasantly surprised by the success of our first edition. Everyone seemed delighted to learn the secret history of many places that they thought they knew so well.”

Copies of Historical Tales and Traditional Ales will be on sale at participating venues, priced £3.

If you are unable to pick up a copy, call Shaun directly on 07908 183160 to purchase one. You can also use this number to reserve places on the Chesterfield Great Historic Pub Tours or arrange a private pub tour tailored to the needs of your social group, family occasion or workplace.