Pint Passport

3 pubs checked · updated 18 September 2026

The oldest pub in Buenos Aires

The short answer

Oldest claim

Bar El Federal

Says 1864. No document from that date has been found.

Grade B · Building dated

The oldest pub claim in Buenos Aires is Bar El Federal in Buenos Aires, which says 1864. No pub here yet has a document from at or near the date it claims, so every date on this page is tradition until one turns up.

Map of 3 old pubs in Buenos Aires

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Buenos Aires

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The contenders, oldest claim first

Order the contenders

  1. Bar El Federal

    Grade B

    Buenos Aires, Argentina

    The 1864 is the Buenos Aires press's, not the bar's, which publishes nothing a reader can open. La Nación writes that El Federal was born as a pulpería in 1864 on two dirt streets at the corner of Perú and Carlos Calvo, and Perfil, marking 160 years in 2024, has it opening that year and passing from pulpería to almacén de ramos generales before settling into the bar it is now. A pulpería sold drink across a counter

    Dated 1864 in the press; no early record found.

  2. Los 36 Billares

    Grade C

    Buenos Aires, Argentina

    The 1894 is the house's own, printed at the head of the counter menu it publishes, which calls itself a pizzeria and a bar notable and puts the opening in the year Avenida de Mayo was being cut through the old town. The city's tourism service gives the same year, and the Spanish Wikipedia article credits Horacio Spinetto's Cafes de Buenos Aires, published by the city's heritage directorate in 2008. None of the three

    Claims 1894; no early record found; building c.1914.

  3. Bar Británico

    Grade C

    Buenos Aires, Argentina

    The 1928 is the city of Buenos Aires's: its guide to the notable bars says the Británico opened its doors in 1928, on the ground floor of a five-storey building, and that the corner had earlier been the pulpería La Cosechera. Trading has been interrupted: evicted June 2006, reopened February 2007, closed August 2014 and reopened November 2014. Status after that was not re-verified.

    Locally dated 1928; no early record found.

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Common questions

Which is the oldest pub in Buenos Aires still open?
Every pub on this page was trading when it was last checked, and each pub page shows the month. By claim that is Bar El Federal; by documentary evidence, the oldest record we have found belongs to none of them yet — no record from a claimed date has been found here.
How many old pubs are there in Buenos Aires?
We have checked 3 in Buenos Aires: 0 with a record from at or near the date claimed, 1 with a building of the right age but a later first mention, and 2 resting on tradition. More join the list as evidence turns up.