Ask the pubs that claim to be England’s oldest how old they are and you’ll get dates from 560 to 1189. Dr James Wright, a buildings archaeologist who has worked for Historic England, doesn’t think any of the famous ones are close. “Not one of the claimants to be the oldest pub (and there are over two dozen of them) are even vaguely close to being so in reality,” he told the Guardian.
His answer is the George Inn at Norton St Philip, a village in Somerset. Historic England said much the same in 2022, in a blog written with Wright. It called the George the strongest claim to be England’s earliest surviving purpose-built inn.
How you date a pub properly
Wright’s test was whether a pub was built as an inn, had been in continuous service and still had its original fabric with evidence to prove it. Archives help, and tree-ring dating gets closest. Medieval carpenters used timber green, felling it and building almost straight away, so the date a beam’s tree was felled is close to the date the building went up.
Pub historian Charo Havermans put it simply to the BBC. “The strongest claims are when the history meets the science.”
1. The George Inn, Norton St Philip, Somerset
Historic England and the Guardian say the George was set up in the 14th century by the monks of nearby Hinton Priory, to put up merchants coming to the priory’s markets and fairs. Wikipedia says it started as the priory’s wool store. It still has fabric from the late 14th century, and the timber frame at the front was added using wood felled between 1430 and 1432. Wright says its stone and timber suggest it “has been in continuous service for over 600 years.”
It’s Grade I listed. Samuel Pepys passed through Norton St Philip in 1668, and the inn was the headquarters of the Duke of Monmouth’s army in 1685. The pub claims a licence to sell ale from 1397. Wikipedia says that may have been a local licence from the prior, since government licences only began in 1552.
The rest of the oldest pubs in England
These are the 12 inns Wright told the Guardian he believes are the oldest, with the dates he gives.
| Pub | Where | Dated to |
|---|---|---|
| George Inn | Norton St Philip, Somerset | late 14th century, 1430 to 1432 |
| Bull Hotel | Ludlow, Shropshire | 14th and 15th centuries |
| King’s Head | Shrewsbury, Shropshire | 1426, 1430 to 1431 |
| New Inn | Gloucester | 1432 |
| White Hart Inn | Hook, Hampshire | 1419 to 1451 |
| George Hotel | Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire | mid 15th century |
| Angel Inn | Andover, Hampshire | 1445 to 1455 |
| Kings Head | Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire | 1445 to 1455 |
| Angel | Grantham, Lincolnshire | about 1450 |
| George and Pilgrims Inn | Glastonbury, Somerset | 1461 to 1483 |
| Saracen’s Head | Southwell, Nottinghamshire | 1460s |
| George Hotel | Odiham, Hampshire | 1486 to 1487 |
Historic England’s 2022 blog adds detail on a few. The New Inn in Gloucester was built for a monk, John Twyning, and could sleep around 200 guests. The Angel at Grantham counted Richard III among its customers in 1483. The King’s Head in Aylesbury has painted glass with the arms of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou in its windows.
The famous claims, and what’s wrong with them
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, St Albans. It says its original structure has been dated as far back as 793. Wright says that date probably first turned up on a postcard in 1926. The building started as a monastic dovecote around 1400, and Historic England says its timber frame was reassembled on the present site as a house around 1600. It was serving beer as the Fighting Cocks by 1807.
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham. It says its doors opened in 1189. Historic England dates the building and its caves to the 17th century. The first record of it as a pub, then called the Pilgrim, is from 1751, and it didn’t call itself the oldest pub in England until around 1910, when the landlord put up new signs. It probably isn’t even the oldest pub in Nottingham. Historic England says that’s likely the Bell Inn, a mid-15th-century building in use as a pub by the 1630s.
The Bingley Arms, Bardsey. It calls itself “officially the oldest in Britain”, dating back over 1000 years, and is claimed to date from 953. Historic England says the building is mid-18th-century West Yorkshire vernacular, consistent with a 1738 datestone on it.
The Royal Standard of England, Beaconsfield. The Guardian reports it claims to have been a favourite of King Alfred the Great’s West Saxons in around 880. Wright puts claims like this down to “canny marketing strategies by landlords, tenants, breweries and pub companies.”
The Porch House, Stow-on-the-Wold. Historic UK says it was authenticated by the Guinness Book of Records as dating from 947. Guinness World Records has rested the oldest pub record since 2000, “when it became clear that it was not possible to verify it in full”, the BBC reports.
The Old Ferry Boat Inn, Holywell. Historic UK says that, according to legend, it’s been serving since 560, and that it’s mentioned in the Domesday Book. Nobody’s found a pub in the Domesday Book (see below). One r/uktravel commenter noted it “was just called the Ferry Boat Inn back then.”
Any pub that says it’s in the Domesday Book
Several pubs say they’re in the Domesday Book of 1086. None of them are, because the Domesday Book doesn’t mention any pubs at all. As Wright told the Guardian, “any pub claiming to be in it is having you on.”
What about London and the rest of the UK?
London’s oldest is a different George. The George Inn in Southwark has the best claim in the capital, with part of its 1677 rebuild still standing. We’ve checked the main London claims in the oldest pubs in London. We’ll add Scotland, Wales and Ireland’s oldest as we check them.
If it’s the drinking you’re after rather than the dates, start with the best pubs in London or the best pubs in York.