Historic pubs · East of England
Britain's quirkiest historic pubs
Smallest, oldest, highest, most-haunted.
Britain has a pub for every superlative: The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds (smallest), Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham (oldest, with caves), the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales (highest at 1,732 ft), the Skirrid Mountain Inn in Wales (most-haunted, allegedly). A grand pub-crawl tour takes a week.
Places in this guide
★ Iconic📷 3Historic pubs · West Midlands
The Fleece Inn
The only National Trust-operated pub — a medieval longhouse in Worcestershire.
★ Iconic📷 3Historic pubs · East of England
The Eagle, Cambridge
The Cambridge pub where DNA was announced — and the WWII RAF ceiling-graffiti bar.
★ Iconic📷 3Historic pubs · East Midlands
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem
The Nottingham pub carved into Castle Rock that claims to date from 1189.
★ Iconic📷 10Historic pubs · London
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
Fleet Street's 1667 sawdust-floor pub — Johnson, Dickens, Twain all drank here.
★ Iconic📷 3Historic pubs · North West England
The Philharmonic Dining Rooms
Britain's only Grade I-listed pub interior, with the famous marble urinals.
★ Iconic📷 10Historic pubs · London
The Black Friar
London's only complete art-nouveau pub, with bronze friars and 1905 mosaics.
★ Iconic📷 10Historic pubs · London
The Lamb and Flag
Covent Garden's oldest pub — Dickens drank here, Dryden was attacked outside.
★ Iconic📷 3Historic pubs · South West England
The Square and Compass
Dorset's served-through-a-hatch family pub since 1907 — fossils, cider, pumpkin festival.
Flagship📷 3Historic pubs · North West England
The Marble Arch Inn
Manchester's 1888 pub with a sloping mosaic floor and 100% surviving interior.
Flagship📷 3Historic pubs · West Midlands
The Bartons Arms
Birmingham's elaborate 1901 Edwardian Minton-tile pub, surviving against the odds.