The time the Hollywood jet-set moved to Chelmsford, Essex

Neil, Chris, Steve, and Nick met at the station in Chelmsford on a balmy June Friday evening in 1989

The plan was simple, several drinks in Harlequins before dancing the night away at Dukes and stopping off at Wimpy for a Bender-in-a-bun on the way home.

Excitedly chatting about the Soul II Soul 12”s to be bought the following day and the previous evening’s episode of Blackadder, they arrived at Harlequins to be confronted with a queue that stretched all the way back to the bus station.

Sighing, they joined it.

As they waited, a stretch limousine arrived, Michael Douglas and Tom Hanks got out, nodded at the Harlequins bouncer and walked right in.

“Bloody Hollywood superstars,” spat Nick.

“It was Patrick Swayze who arrived first,” remembers local historian Professor Patrick Bell.

“It was late 1988, and he became a regular at the Black Horse on Moulsham Street.

“Originally, I understand it was just research for the role of Dalton in Roadhouse, but after spending time here, he enjoyed the laid-back vibe of Chelmsford, its ample parking and impressive Debenhams, so he simply stayed.”

The key to the rest of the Hollywood jet-set arriving in Chelmsford was an exclusive party thrown by Swayze over Christmas.

“I don’t the Chelmsford had ever seen the like,” chuckles Professor Bell

“He’d hired an entire bar at the Golden Fleece. Completely closed off to the public. There were M&S vol-u-vents and sausage rolls, and a DJ spinning the latest sounds.

“It was, by far, the best party Chelmsford had ever seen, and that’s before the guests even arrived.”

Sigourney Weaver, Mel Gibson, Ione Skye, Sean Penn, Dan Ackroyd, Kim. Basinger – the cream of the Hollywood jet-set filed into the Fleece.

“They’d all got rooms in the Saracen’s Head, which has seen better days now, but at the time, was the peak of Chelmsford sophistication,” explained Professor Bell.

“After the party, they all went for a kebab at Mr kebabs and it was clear – they’d fallen in love with the town.”

Sigourney Weaver was the first to move in, taking up an apartment on trendy Moulsham Street, Sean Penn and then wife Madonna followed, moving into a house in Broomfield, by the hospital.

Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis – Chelmsford become a mecca for 1989’s biggest stars.

“Initially, people loved it,” continued Professor Bell

“Seeing Tom Cruise in Mr Byrite’s, bumping into Michael J Fox in Parrot Records, or watching Meryl Streep play darts in the  Railway Tavern. It was exciting”

However, the novelty soon wore off.

“Bloody Michael Douglas,” remembers local drunk Swiss Chris.

“You’d pop into to White Horse for a quick pint and there’d be Michael Douglas at the bar, getting a round in for his famous mates – always cocktails – could take half an hour sometimes. Git.”

It became impossible to get a table in Back in Time, Chelmsford’s popular family restaurant. Queues into all nightspots grew out of control as the stars demanded ever larger private areas, and Dan Ackroyd hogged the pool table at the King’s Head.

“I just wanted them gone,” said Swiss Chris.

“We all did, they thought they were better than all of us just because they were phenomenally wealthy global superstars.”

And suddenly, they were gone.

“It was Eddie Murphy who I believe first sold up in September of ’89,” Professor Bell says.

“He declared Chelmsford ‘wack’ and returned to his swanky Bel-air home, and within a month all the other superstars were gone.

“Except Steve Guttenberg, of course, he’s still a regular down at the Plough.”

So ended one of the strangest periods in the Essex town’s history, but you can often tell if a Chelmsfordian lived through that period as whenever he walks into any one of the many pubs and his first question will always be

“Mel Gibson in tonight?”