A pub in Nottingham would have a shot at being one of the oldest in the country had it not closed, according to an archaeologist who has spent years studying the subject. Many locals will be familiar with the Flying Horse, situated just off Old Market Square beside the brutalist Burger King.
It’s home to Bar Gigig and a 200 Degrees coffee shop and provides an entrance to a wide-ranging shopping arcade. Rewind 35 years and the building was coming to the end of its long tenure as a pub, having opened more than 500 years ago.
Its historic signifance isn’t a secret – ‘established 1483’ is still scrawled on its frontage. But James Wright, who has written a book busting myths surrounding the nation’s pubs, has shed further light on the topic.
The archaeologist, who conducted five years of research, says the former pub would have a claim at being one of the oldest in the country. “Sadly 35 years ago someone decided to close it,” he said.
Local archaeologist James Wright
(Image: John Smalley / Triskele Heritage)
“If that was still a pub that would have a claim to be one of the oldest in England. It dates back to the 1480s. It was built as an inn and remained one until 1989. Now it’s a clothes shop and a coffee shop.”
Dr Wright’s research found the city’s oldest existing pub is the Bell Inn, which is just a stone’s throw from Flying Horse, as previously reported by Nottinghamshire Live. It also stated Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, which claims to be England’s oldest, in fact became a pub in the 18th century.
The Saracens Head Hotel & Restaurant in Market Place, Southwell
(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
Dr Wright said the oldest in wider Nottinghamshire, the Saracens Head, dated back even further, to the 1460s. “It was built as an inn and has always been an inn,” he said.
“You can go there and have a drink in an environment people have been drinking in for 500 years.” The archaeologist’s findings suggested the oldest in the entire country is the George Inn in Norton St Philip, Somerset which was formed in the late 1300s
“Wherever you go in the country they think they have a claimant,” he added.