Edsbacka Krog seems to be the oldest in Sweden, opened in 1626....
The Swedish, Den Gyllene Freden, is the world's oldest restaurant, open in 1522, with Spains Sobrino de Botin in second place, which opened in 1525..
It is certainly interesting to know wich the oldest pub is, but I would be more interested to know a Pub where a bitter with a decent head is served... nowadays the head vanishes as soon is served into the glass
Depends on the ale. Many don't have a head anyway.
I'm Oxford born and we think that 'The Bear' (properly The Bear Inn) is the oldest pub in the city. There's been a drinking hole there since the 13th century and the current pub dates back to the 17th century.
Tourists are often told that The Eagle and Child is the oldest but it dates from about 1650, around the time Charles I was loosing his head.
Oooooo, I hate the old "Ye" thingie.
The character was not a "Y", and only resembeled the letter Y.
It was actually called a Thorn, and had the "th" sound.
So it is The Old, not Ye Old.
I used to visit the " Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem " now and again in the 1990's. No-one ever called it that though, it was just known as the " Trip "
About half of the pub is actually caves, dug out of the sandstone rock.
It was an OK place to go for a beer, the clientele were mostly 'real ale' geeks, rock music fans and bikers.
They served a beer called " Owd Roger " which was extremely high in alcohol for the time. Not much use to me when I had to ride ( a motorcycle, not a bicycle ) 20 miles back home though
I have no idea what it's like now though.