The Castleton Chamber of trade was conceived in 1990 by a small group of traders, mainly made up of Accommodation providers, Pubs, Shops, Caverns, Cafés with the sole intention of protecting their businesses from the unforeseen, for example, the Foot and Mouth epidemic of 2000/2001 of which threatened the livelihoods of 75% of the village but thanks to the tenacity of Ken Slack who was director and C.E.O. at the time, along with Brian Johnson, most of the businesses received a “gift” of £15.000 from the government to help there finances.

Ken Slack who has been a Director of the Chamber for twenty eight years and still is, owned The Olde Cheshire Cheese inn were almost all the committee meetings were held, he sold the “Cheese” in 2007 but then went on to build a small Motel in the car park across the road, The Cheshire Mews, as a “retirement plan”, so hopefully, Ken will be around for some time.