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The oldest pubs I remember having a discussion some years back about what was the oldest pub in the world. I still do not have the answer to that, but I recently came across the list of contenders in Britain.
The oldest ones in Belfast are from the 1640 era, White’s Tavern and Kelly’s, the latter of which actually looks the part as the floor is enough below street level now that there are small ramps at the entryways.
Are there older pub’s in Europe, perhaps in Rome? Some little wine establishment tucked away near the ruins of the forum? Or perhaps in China. where one could imagine some spice road inn from Biblical times.
Could there perhaps be some ancient establishment in India with a sign saying: “Buddha Got Pissed Here?”
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None of those is in London – any clues as to why? I am also curious about the owners: are any of them the descendants of the original ones.
Gordon’s Wine Bar in London dates from 1364, albeit not in continuous use (it’s current incarnation on the location is only from 1890).
Re London: was it the Fire?
Then (for me) it does not count:-) (Although 1890 is in itself quite impressive).
Alarmingly for the state of my liver, I have been in two of the contenders, The Clachan Inn and the Trip to Jerusalem.
The Trip has a rather amusing medieval pub game, that consists of a large brass ring on a rope that you have to try to swing onto a bulls horn on the wall.
Great fun to watch all the tourists ducking furiously into their pints.
The Rose Inn in Wickhambreuax, Kent, dates from 1390, apparently. Don’t know if that is continuous but there are many pubs in the area around Canterbury which are ancient (The Dog in Wingham is another example).
The White Horse Tavern in Rhode Island dates back to 1673. Seems to have been continuous use, too.
I was told that the oldest pub was The Brazen Head in Dublin
http://www.brazenhead.com/
dating 1198
The Parador at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain was founded as an inn in 1499 and claims to be the oldest such in Europe. For a luxurious stay I can thoroughly recommend it, tho it will set you back a bob (sorry- euro) or two.
Well my local, just down the hill, is a relative newcomer.The Old England has been serving thirsty libidinous types like me, since only 1760.
It is all that remains of a Pleasure Garden. Were big at the time. Check out Johnson and Boswell. They were always getting rowed down to Vauxhall for a skin full and a leg over.
Anyway, with this wonderful new anti smoking law the place looked like this 7pm last Friday.
Two people in the bar, Four playing pool, and 36 gathered round the brassier on the patio, smoking drinking and toasting marshmallows.
We smokers will either be dead of hypothermia by the end of winter
Or live forever!
If continuity of use on site is a factor, then the The George Inn, in Southwark (London), which dates from ca 1675, must be a contender.
I went to the one in Stow on the Wold it has a name plate out the front claiming to be established in 947, I wanted to go in and have a drink and a look but on a lovely sunday afternoon it was closed for the day.
The Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham claims to be the oldest pub in britain, dating to the 1120s or so. Odly, though, the Bell Inn claims to be the oldest pub in Nottingham!
Neachtain’s (Naughton’s) in Galway City was almost a century old when Christopher Columbus stopped by to blow the froth off a few pints while hiring some crew in the 1490’s, but the oldest continuous license in Ireland is, I believe, some place down in Cork.
Interesting. I’ve been in the Brazen Head in Dublin and heard the story from whence the name came from a well known trad singer friend who used to perform there when she was much younger.
As to Neactains…. it is one of my most favorite establishments in all of Ireland. I used to like The Quays, but not after the remodeling destroyed the original character of it.
Depends on what you define as a “pub”. There’s a tavern/restaurant in Salzburg which has been serving alcohol without pause since about 800 AD. I went there a few years back, and all the local literature talks about it — I just can’t remember its name: Peterskeller? St. Peter’s? Something like that.
Oh, and Ye Olde Bell in Hurley, Hants was built in 1137. Stayed there in 2006. The previous management(s) must have been better for it to have survived so long: the pub had run out of all tap ale when I was there.
How does a pub run out of ale?
Whilst not quite as old as The Brazen Head, The Bear in Oxford (near Christ Church) dates to 1242 and is a very nice pub!
The Trip to Jerusalem is way older than The Bell (though it’s a fine boozer and did a very good Jazz night on Sundays I recall). I could be wrong but I remember that the Royal Children is older than The Bell which is (judging by architecture Georgian).
The main drag through Nottingham is called, I kiddeth yea not, “Maid Marion Way”. Fat, balding, middle-aged… Feeling that life is passing you by? Move to Nottingham and you will literally walk into a job as an historic tour-guide doing a Friar Tuck impersonation. There’s hordes of them.
I believe my authority on these issues stems from the fact that Nick M is BSc (Hons) from Nottingham University – the proper one on Jesse Boot’s campus not Trent Polly.
There’s a tavern/restaurant in Salzburg which has been serving alcohol without pause since about 800 AD.
I think this is the biergarten attached to a monastery there, in which case their claim is probably true. Fabulous beer, and great local color – I recall the place being jammed with actual Salzburgers, draining stoneware mugs in classic Teutonic style.
The Salutation in Notingham is pretty old and there is eviddence of brewing on the site since Saxon times.
Plaque near the Maid Marian Way entrances states:
“The present house was built c. 1240 on the site of the 13th century Ale House known as ‘The Archangel Gabriel Salutes the Virgin Mary.’ During the first Civil War 1642-1646 part of the house was used as Recruiting Rooms for both Factions. The original still existing Cave Systems was probably Saxon Farm, latter used for Servants Accommodation and Brewing”.
If you ask nicely, they will take you into the caves beneath the pub which date back a thousand years or more.
More importantly, not far from here, the best beer in the world is produced – you have not live until you have tried Castle Rock’sHarvest Pale.
The George in Southwark? 1675? Modernist pap!
The Cock in Kilburn High Road, now in North West London is on the old Roman road (Watling Street, which is mostly incorporated in the A5 towards Chester). It opened in 1486 (the year after Richard III was killed at the battle of Tewkesbury, IIRC) and was rebuilt in about 1900.
I like the fact that the Cock’s first customers to develop liver scirrosis probably died before Columbus got to the other side of the Atlantic or the last Moorish kingdom was evicted from Spain.
Unlike more fashionable modern pubs, like the Cheshire Cheese or Soho’s Coach and Horses, I’ve never heard of anyone famous drinking at the Cock in Kilburn.
I seem to recall that there was an inn in Prague that was thought to be the oldest in “continuous” use. If we accept disruption from the odd revolution and invasion.
Did the Puritans close pubs in England during the Commonwealth in the 1650s? I admit I don’t know the answer to this one.
It dates from 900AD, the walls were discovered to date from then from a renovation done in the 1970’s! It is officially the oldest pub in europe according to the guiness book of world records! does anybody know the oldest pub in the world’s name and where it can be located? http://www.seansbar.ie/ link to official sean’s bar website!
Hi.
According to the owner of Sean’s Bar in Athlone, Ireland it is the oldest pub in Irealnd if not the world, dating back 900 years.
http://www.seansbar.ie/
Regards
Malachy
The oldest pub in the world is supposed to be in Damascus – it has a sign (apparently) the oldest pub, in the oldest street, in the oldest city – this is my second trip to Damascus and I am still looking
The Boars head on Wigan Road , Standish near Wigan has been named on the net as the second oldest and its been serving ale since 1210 and is still going strong today , the pub also used to hold prisoners over night in the cellar on their way to a prison as it was a long journey.
in Brugge (België) staat herberg vlissinghe uit 1515
het is de oudste pub van België
en hoort bij de oudste in Europa
the oldest pub in the world is located in Athlone (Ireland) is the pub of the year 900 AD
I am from Ireland, so I will try to pass on what I know about few old public houses here, that I have spent a bit of time in and recommend for a pint. They are mostly 17th century.
1. Sean’s Bar – Athlone, Co.Westmeath (900 AD).
2. Brazen Head – Dublin City (1198). It must be mentioned that the actual bar is now in a Georgian building at the back as there is very little left of the original structure at the front.
3. Abbey Tavern – Howth, North Co. Dublin (late 1500s).
4. Man O’War – Balbriggan, North Co. Dublin (1598).
5. The Balrothery Inn – North Co. Dublin (1656).
6. The Bleeding Horse – South Dublin City (1649).
7. The Old Stand – Dublin City Centre (1669).
8. The Sandyford House – South Co. Dublin (1690).
9. The King’s Head – Galway City (1649).
I drank at an ancestral beer hall in Czechoslovakia which is called U FLECKU – 5 generations of my family have drank there. It has been a continuous drinking hall for 499 years.
Sean’s in Athlone is the oldest. 900AD
Hey there. I can see that someone mentioned a pub that was from 1390 and 1360 as to be the oldest, yet i would like to bring a specific pub from Poland to your attention – Piwnica pod Baranami (ram’s cellar) – from WrocŠ‚aw. Accordingly to the recipes saved in city-halls archives it was build and operational under the city-hall in 1332 – and worked without much of a break ever since – even producing it’s own beer called: “ram” (like an animal)
City of London mini heritage pub crawl.
1. The Seven Stars (1602 AD) – Carey Street, WC2A 2JB (behind the Royal Courts of Justice). From Chancery Lane Tube Station, walk West on High Holborn, turn left onto Chancery Lane and right onto Carey Street. Walk about 1 minute and it’s on the right hand side of the street. Survived the 1666 Great Fire of London.
2. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (1667 AD) – Fleet Street, EC4A 2BU. From The Seven Stars, walk back along Carey Street, turn right onto Chancery Lane and walk to the bottom. Turn left onto Fleet Street. Walk about 5 minutes and it’s on the left hand side of the street. Formerly called The Horn Tavern (1538 AD) and rebuilt after the 1666 Great Fire of London. Weekend opening hours may vary.
3. The Old Bell Tavern (1670 AD) – Fleet Street, EC4Y 1DH. Cross the street from Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and walk down the street about 2 minutes and it’s on the right hand side. Reputedly built by Sir Christopher Wren. Weekend opening hours may vary.
4. The Bell (1666 AD) – Bush Lane, EC4R 0AN. From The Old Bell Tavern, walk on Fleet Street, across Farringdon, and onto Ludgate Hill. Keep walking and pass St Paul’s Cathedral as it becomes Cannon Street. Cross onto the right hand side of Cannon Street, pass London Cannon Street Rail Station and turn right onto Bush Lane. It’s immediately visible on the left hand side. Weekend opening hours may vary.
5. The George Inn (1676 AD) – Borough High Street, SE1 1NH. From The Bell, walk down Bush Lane and turn right onto Suffolk Lane and then left onto Upper Thames Street. Walk about 5 minutes and turn right onto London Bridge. Walk across London Bridge and onto Borough High Street. Walk under the railway bridge on the left hand side of the street. It’s on the left. Formerly called The George and Dragon (15th century) and rebuilt after the 1676 Fire of Southwark.