Dark Chester

Dark Chester tour shines a flickering candlelight into the darkest recesses of Chester’s 2,000-year heritage, illuminating tales of plague, poltergeists and religious persecution amongst others.

It’s a 90-minute walking tour, hosted early evening, and a storytelling stroll with plenty of dark humour and Horrible Histories-style tales.

Book in person at the Visitor Information Centre (VIC), Town Hall Square, Chester, or call the VIC on 01244 405340.

Dark Chester runs special tours during the Chester Heritage Festival, including visits to places assocaited with dark tales.

Please contact me for details, and follow my Instagram @darkchestertour for images and videos from the tour.

Leave a review at Tripadvisor @Dark Chester Tour. Watch a preview clip of Dark Chester via YouTube – The Coffin in the Wall.

Join me and let’s take a walk on the dark side.

Check out my Dark Chester tour via the new Kayak Chester travel guide

February 14, 2024

My Dark Chester tour resumes this week after a winter break. I’m back with new ideas, fresh takes on Chester folk tales and plenty of fire-and-brimstone dark-tourism heritage from my historic home city. I’m also up for new collaborations and editorial coverage, including being featured in the new Chester guide from… Read more

Dark Chester named finalist in the Marketing Cheshire Tourism Awards

October 13, 2023

  It’s official: Dark Chester has been named as a finalist at the Marketing Cheshire Tourism Awards. The dark-tourism walking tour of the heritage city of Chester received the nod as a finalist for Experience of the Year. It picked up a second nomination for New Tourism Business of the Year.… Read more

Dark Chester presents: Dark Dinner — the spookiest supper in Chester

September 28, 2023

Dark Chester tour [pictured above] shines a flickering candlelight into the darkest corners of Chester’s dark-tourism heritage. You may have already seen us walking around Chester, or previously joined us for a walk through the mists of dark history. But now it’s time to explore the city afresh. And, what’s more,… Read more

Dark Chester runs special spooky tours for Chester Heritage Festival

June 27, 2023

  Image: Stuart Robinson Photography [www.stuartrobinson.photography]  Dark Chester ran some special walking tours as part of the Chester Heritage Festival this month. Each time, we finished the regular tour by doing something we’ve ever done before: going into a Chester building to hear a spooky story first hand. First up was… Read more

Bookings open for Dark Chester special tours for the Chester Heritage Festival

May 9, 2023

Dark Chester / Chester Heritage Festival specials — bookings are now open I’ll be leading a couple of special walking tours of Chester next month for the Chester Heritage Festival (CHF). Bookings are now open and spaces are limited. Book Dark Chester: Spooks & Stories (June 17) at https://lnkd.in/eEajidex. Book Dark Chester: Ales &… Read more

Dark Chester highlights dark tourism trend in Cheshire Life magazine feature

May 9, 2023

Dark Chester was featured in the April issue of Cheshire Life magazine [pictured above]. I wrote a feature about  the rise of dark tourism in Chester and how my tour taps into this trend to explore the darker side of our history. Here’s an extract: Dark Chester is a storytelling… Read more

Take a walk on the dark side for the British Guild of Tourist Guides blog

May 9, 2023

When Dark Chester first launched, I write a guest blog post for the British Guild of Tourist Guides (BGTG) to explain my ideas behind the tour [pictured above in Chester]. Here’s an extract: I wanted to compile a 90-minute dark-tourism tour, exploring some of the favourite folk tales, legends and… Read more

Dark Chester collaborates with My Haunted Hotel for paranormal tales of Chester

May 9, 2023

Dark Chester joined forces recently with My Haunted Hotel, the paranormal investigation team based at Ye Olde King’s Head in Chester. We talked about the dark-tourism heritage that inevitably comes with living in a 2,000-year-old city like Chester. The team used my tales of grisly murder and witchcraft in Chester to… Read more