This Wapping institution claims to be Britain’s oldest riverside pub, having been established in 1520 (and having been known over the centuries as The Pelican and then The Devil’s Tavern). The Prospect of Whitby, London The Prospect of Whitby, Wapping A sighting of the ghost in 2018 seems to imply the demand was met. The pub’s landlord wrote demanding he return the spirit. The Chinese artist Lu Pingyuan ‘stole’ the Earl in a canister, as part of a 2016 project in protest at British colonialism. This one’s rather posh – it’s James Stanley, the Earl of Derby, who was executed outside the pub in 1651. Ye Olde Man and Scythe, BoltonĪnother old pub (the name is mentioned in a charter of 1251) with a boast of a ghost. She is said (would you believe it?) to haunt the place to this day. That was about 400 years after a woman called Juliet, who had killed herself after being jilted by a lover, was buried here.
The Old Ferry Boat Inn, Cambridgeshire Drink at the water’s edge at The Old Ferry Boat InnĪlcohol has been served on this Cambridgeshire site since 560, though the foundations of the pub itself are 15 thcentury. The Royal Standard appeared in Hot Fuzz, and has featured in Midsomer Murders so often that the chicken pie is now named after the series. (Another of his hiding places – a tree in Shropshire – gave us the common pub name The Royal Oak.) A 17 th century highwayman called James Hind often stayed here – he disguised the direction of the tracks left by his horse by fitting it with circular shoes. They’d also allowed him to hide in a priest hole in the roof when he was being sought by … yes, you know. Listed in the Domesday Book (1086) as the Ship Inn, the Royal Standard got its current name from Charles II after the pub let him entertain his mistresses here. The Royal Standard of England, Beaconsfield The Royal Standard of England, Beaconsfield Recent acts have included Swamp Coffin, Death Ingloria and Pist.
Now known locally as ‘the Sal’, the pub hosts heavy rock nights. After the monarchy’s restoration the pub became the Salutation, and included both a brothel and a sweet shop. Oliver Cromwell (him again) might have signed Charles I’s death warrant in the inn, and during his reign it switched to being The Soldier and Citizen. The original name was ‘The Archangel Gabriel Salutes the Virgin Mary’, which is difficult to say even before you’ve started drinking. Caves underneath the Salutation are thought to be from a 9 th century Saxon farm, though the date claimed for the pub itself is 1240. The city’s second entry in the list (which won’t surprise anyone who knows Nottingham’s reputation for hospitality). Though this surely applies to any chair in any pub. Curiosities include a cursed ship that allegedly kills anyone who cleans it (a good excuse not to do the dusting), and a chair which is said to increase a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant. It certainly feels old, its many rooms (or rather caves) carved out of the rocks on which Nottingham Castle stands. Its name denoting the fact that knights drank here before heading off on their crusades, ‘the Trip’ has been in business since 1189.
I’d love the heavenly host to be tippling there for all eternity.’ Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham
The new management team were blessed by a local vicar with a meditation by St Brigid: ‘I’d like to give a lake of beer to God. You can’t keep a pub this old down for long. In February it closed because of the financial impact of Covid restrictions, but reopened again in April. Oliver Cromwell spent a night here during the Civil War, and the pub featured in a 1990 episode of Inspector Morse. Its unusual octagonal shape is due to a previous life as a pigeon coop used by monks, while the name comes from the cockerel fights that once took place here. The pub’s foundations are said to date from 793, though the current building is largely 11 th century in origin. This watering hole is first on the list because it has Guinness World Records on its side – or rather it did until 2000, when Guinness retired the category of ‘oldest pub in England’ because they’d never really been sure about the answer. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, St Albans Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, St Albans But here are a few of the boozers with a claim to be the country’s oldest. Thankfully there’s little sign of England, or indeed Britain, being down to its last pub – but which was its first? As ever with these debates, a definitive answer is hard to find: accurate record-keeping wasn’t a priority several centuries ago, when the pubs pulled their early pints. ‘When you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England.’ So said Hilaire Belloc.
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