The claim
Hidden in a cobbled yard off Borough High Street, the George is London's only surviving galleried coaching inn. An inn stood here by the 1540s; the present wing, with its wooden balconies, dates from rebuilding after the great Southwark fire of 1676. Owned by the National Trust, it keeps panelled bars, a Parliament clock and a busy courtyard.
What the records show
The c.1542 comes from Historic England's public history writing rather than from the inn, which claims only the 16th century: Heritage Calling gives the earliest known reference to an inn on the site as a map of Southwark made around 1542, and notes John Stow's later list of 'many fair inns'. The surviving galleried range was rebuilt in 1677 after the 1676 fire; two other wings were demolished in 1889 for railway warehousing. The statutory list entry was read on 17 September 2026 and agrees, with one detail the page did not have. Entry 1378357, grade I, first listed on 2 March 1950 as No. 77 The George Inn, calls the house an inn of the seventeenth century in timber frame and brick, forming the south range of a coaching inn once ranged around a quadrangle, with two tiers of galleries on cantilevered beams and wooden Doric columns. Its historical note says the original inn dates back at least to the sixteenth century, and its description of the cellar records reused medieval beams and squared stonework of possible medieval origin in the left side wall — the oldest fabric anyone has recorded here. It confirms the Great Eastern Railway's ownership, the demolition of the north range in 1874 and the gift to the National Trust in 1937.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1542 | Claimed founding | The press |
| c.1677 | Present building | Building fabric |
| 1542 | First record of a drinking house here | Historic England's Heritage Calling, on a Southwark map of about 1542 |
What to look for inside
- London's last galleried coaching inn
- Owned by the National Trust since 1937
- Grade I listed; on CAMRA's National Inventory
- Parliament clock recalling the 1797 tax on timepieces
Visiting
The George Inn is in London, England, at 75-77 Borough High Street, London SE1 1NH. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- heritagecalling.com/2025/09/25/what-is-the-oldest-historic-pub-in-london/
- camra.org.uk/pubs/george-london-158364
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_George_Inn,_Southwark
- historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1378357
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/364214
Then and now
Photographed about 1889, and today. The yard in 1889, photographed by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.
Photo: London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company · public domain
Photo: Matt Brown · licenceKnow something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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Free to put on your own site, no permission needed. It shows what the pub claims and what the records support, and it changes when the data does.
How to use it, and how to change what it says — if you have a document we have not seen, we would like to read it.
