It was in September 1986 that six (then still young!) businessmen – a solicitor, a newspaper editor, a building society manager, an hotelier, a butcher and a public relations consultant – met over a convivial lunch at the Abbots Well (now the Mercure Chester East) Hotel. A germ of an idea developed to set up some kind of new ‘business’ organisation – but different from the existing ones where, for example, accountants, hoteliers, solicitors, estate agents, bankers and the like joined their respective ‘institution’ associations and, in the main, did little to promote ‘Chester’ beyond their organisations’ own terms of reference. The six Founder Members of what became the Chester Business Club wanted to create a new business grouping that business people wanted to belong to rather than the one they felt obligated to join. One of the principal activities over the years have been the Speaker Dinners. The principal aim of these Black Tie events is to provide an impartial forum for leading commentators – from Business, Politics, Media, The Arts and Public Life ~ to speak on a topic of their own choosing, as a positive contribution to increasing public awareness of the important issues of the day. And as the Club has also built up a reputation for providing speakers with a happy and welcoming bunch of people as an audience, they tend be socially agreeable occasions too! In addition to the Speaker Dinners CBC also holds a number of ‘social’ activities (e.g., Drinks Receptions), Charity fundraisers (e.g., an annual Charity Walk and annual Charity Ball), informal dinners and networking events (e.g., Member evenings at local businesses’ offices). Membership, by invitation, of the Club is available to Directors, Proprietors, Partners, Senior Employees of businesses in the City of Chester area and others of similar standing. Please see our website for more information.