We often feature images of Chester in the 1960s but we are doing so again because it was such an important and vibrant period for so many people in the city.
The 1960s was undoubtedly an exciting, flourishing time to be alive and, in Chester especially, it was a time of great change, with periods of development going on wherever you looked.
Much of the construction visible to us today was built in the 1960s, including the current Market Hall and the city’s ring road, and this is explored by historian Paul Hurley in his book Chester in the 1960s: Ten Years That Changed a City.
Related : Kwik Save, hotels and cafés - Chester life in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s
Some of the pictures you see here you may not have seen before, such as the construction of the Fountains Roundabout. Some old Chester buildings were lost to make way for this, including the much loved Egerton House on Upper Northgate Street, but it allowed the inner ring road to continue down St Oswald’s Way and link up with Upper Northgate Street.
Also seen here is the Forum Shopping Centre, built as a replacement for the old Market Hall which was demolished in 1967. The building, designed by Michael Lyell and Associates, was widely considered to be ugly and not fitting with an ancient city like Chester. This too was demolished 25 years later in 1995.
And dominating Foregate Street in the 1960s was The Swan Hotel, one of Chester’s most prestigious hotels. The Tatler cinema was built next door and both buildings sat side by side until 1972 when they were demolished to make way for modern shop development.
Do you remember any of these sights? Share your memories in the comments below
