The first mention of the Star was in 1636 when it was held by one John Ward, and though the brick exterior gives it the appearance of being a much later building, they cover a timber-frame structure the foundations of which were likely to have been laid in the 16th century. Former town brewers Hawkes & Co bought the Star in 1808.

An entrance at the corner of the building that once opened onto Water Lane was bricked-up in the early 1900s, perhaps to protect departing patrons from potential accidents due to increased traffic. The side of the building is half covered in traditional weatherboard, while at the rear can be found the inn’s old water pump and former stables. The stable yard later became a car park but is now a small pub garden. And in the early 20th century the Star advertised accommodation for cyclists, making it particularly popular with people from local villages who would stop overnight to ensure an early start to Thursday’s market.

Former celebrated local artist, John Kynnersley Kirby, a painter of many local scenes and characters in the early 1900s, once used the interior of the Star for a painting entitled ‘The Slate Club Secretary’. In it he portrayed a freelance journalist named Jimmy Sell set against the pub’s smoke-laden Victorian wallpaper.