Halloween collab ahoy! Dark Chester tour and Chester on a Plate tour join forces
November 8, 2024The Brewery Tap, Chester. Image: David Atkinson. We did a special tourist-guide collab for Halloween this year. My Dark Chester tour joined forced with Chester on a Plate tour to offer a unique Halloween experience — spooky stories and fiendish food. We visited three of Chester’s great, independent places to… Read more
Ghost stories and Victorian Gothic: my public speaking engagements this winter
November 8, 2024The function room at the Cat & Fiddle Distillery. Image: David Atkinson. As the darker winter months roll in, I’m pivoting work wise. After working flat out with Halloween walking tours of Chester for both children (daytime) and adults (evenings), public speaking engagements will keep me busy over winter. I… Read more
Dark Chester presents Victorian Gothic — new for autumn 2024
August 30, 2024Dark Chester [pictured above; image via Stuart Robinson Photography] presents Victorian Gothic next week. It’s a new evening walking tour with a literary motif, delving into Chester’s golden age during the reign of Queen Victoria. It was an age of innovation, global power and flushing toilets. But the Victorians were… Read more
Dark Chester named winner at the Marketing Cheshire Tourism Award 2024
March 28, 2024Photo: Kat Hannon photography Dark Chester picked up an award last week at the Marketing Cheshire Tourism Awards [pictured above]. My walking tour of Chester was named the winner in the New Tourism Business of the Year category. The ceremony was hosted at Chester Cathedral and Nicola Said, Regional lead… Read more
Dark Chester named finalist in the Marketing Cheshire Tourism Awards
October 13, 2023It’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, 2023Dark 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, 2023Image: 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
Dark Chester highlights dark tourism trend in Cheshire Life magazine feature
May 9, 2023Dark 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, 2023When 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