Looking at these pictures of disease-ridden slums at the last century, it’s hard to believe this is actually Chester.

But thanks to Chester’s History and Heritage Museum, who have allowed us to reproduce these pictures, we are able to see into the slums of the 1930s, in which a great many Chester people lived, in overcrowded conditions, with disease rife, communal toilets and taps and overflowing sewage gutters.

In Victorian times some of these slums were known as ‘dens of iniquity’ where even the police didn’t much dare to go.

Many were situated at the rear of the Town Hall where there was a lot of crowded housing, and also behind the main streets such as Watergate and Bridge Street.

These images were taken in the 1930s, just before a huge demolition programme which tied in with the building of the Lache Estate.