They were four very dirty, tightly screwed up bundles of papers giving detail on the business of an alehouse and on ordinary life in early Victorian Ruthin.

They are about John Williams who was the last of five family members to hold the licence for the Star in the early nineteenth century.

An 1845 description mentions that the public areas were at the front of the building, with a bar and a parlour either side of the lobby entrance.

The bar book contains 52 names of regulars captured for posterity, and it is a sobering thought that these transactions represent the only surviving evidence of any activity by these individuals.

Surviving black bills from the 18th century show that the Star offered breakfast, luncheon, dinner, supper, "sanviges" tea and coffee as well as "servants eating", which suggests an all-day food provision.