Stadsbierhuys De Waag

Koepoortstraat 2, Doesburg

Grade A · DocumentedTrading · checked Sept 2026

Stadsbierhuys De Waag claims 1478. The records say 1478.

Claimed: 1478
First record: 1478
Building: c.1478

The building. Late-Gothic weigh house, c. 1478.

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Historic interior
Food
House beer
Hanseatic

How old is it, really?

How to read this ribbon

Solid: 548 years on record. Diamond: the standing building, dated from its fabric to about 1478.

The claim

In the little Hanseatic town of Doesburg, the late-Gothic weigh house of 1478 still has its great merchant's scales hanging inside, but for centuries it has also poured beer. Now a 'city beer house', it serves its own Hanze blond and wheat beers at scrubbed tables under a lofty timber roof, and holds a Guinness claim as Holland's oldest hospitality business.

What the records show

The weigh house came into use in 1478, and the city let it with the monopoly on selling foreign beer in Doesburg, so weighing and tapping ran together from the start: Erfgoed Gelderland, the Dutch Wikipedia entry, the town's own heritage pages and the Stichting Erfgoed Nederlandse Biercultuur database all describe it as the stadsbierhuis from its opening, with city workers taking part of their wages here in beer. The lease itself has not been published online. The Guinness recognition is a distinction, not evidence, and 't Goude Hooft in The Hague claims 1423.

Dated evidence for Stadsbierhuys De Waag, earliest first
Year	What	Source
1478	Claimed founding	The pub
c.1478	Present building	Building fabric
1478	First record of a drinking house here	Erfgoed Gelderland, on the weigh house and beer house of 1478

What to look for inside

Original weighing scales still hanging inside
Guinness-listed oldest operating horeca business in the Netherlands
House beers Oerblond and Oerweizen brewed since 2020
Hanseatic town setting

Visiting

Stadsbierhuys De Waag is in Doesburg, Netherlands, at Koepoortstraat 2, Doesburg. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

waagdoesburg.nl Directions in your maps app

Sources

Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026

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Above: the record · Below: what readers rememberThe record ends here

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The snug

What people remember about Stadsbierhuys De Waag

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