From Victorian times it was common for most towns to have a brewery. Chesterfield at one time had three breweries, Brampton, Chesterfield and Scarsdale, which made it the second biggest brewing town in Derbyshire. The largest was Derby which had four breweries at its peak. Scarsdale was the penultimate Derbyshire brewery to close, leaving Offilers of Derby to survive into the mid 1960s. The success of the Chesterfield breweries has been attributed to the fine well water deep beneath the town. This enabled them to produce the good quality ales needed to combat the fierce competition from Sheffield brewers, who were keen to spread south.

The two largest breweries, Brampton and Chesterfield, were run as large profitable Limited Companies, whilst Scarsdale, for most of its existence, was a small family concern. The reasons for their demise vary in each case; Chesterfield brewery failed because of the lack of dedicated leadership, Brampton disappeared through the shareholders backing a take-over bid rather than preserving the interests of a fine company; Scarsdale ceased as there was no family successor.

The breweries had survived many hard times, such as high taxation, shortage or rationing of materials due to wars, and an attack on their main outlet, the public house, in the form of the Compensation Act of 1904. This Act gave the authorities the power to close run-down pubs or houses in areas with too many licensed premises in return for a small amount of compensation. In addition to this the breweries had to pay a levy on all their pubs to fund the compensation scheme. The final onslaught came in the 1950s and 60s when take over mania brought an end to many breweries, resulting in the so-called 'big six' brewing companies controlling the majority of pubs and brewing in the country.

John Hirst has written a booklet called "Chesterfield Breweries- The Story of the Brampton, Chesterfield and Scarsdale Breweries" which outlines the progress of each brewery generally in chronological order, covering as far as possible its owners amd events affecting them. Much other information has been gathered on the people who owned, managed and worked in the breweries, as well as detailed information on the pubs. It is hoped that the facts provided will be of interest and provoke fond memories of the fine ales brewed. Although long gone, brews such as the famous Brampton mild are still lovingly remembered by those who drank them.