The Haunch of Venison, Salisbury

The Haunch of Venison

1 Minster Street, Salisbury SP1 1TB

Grade C · TraditionTrading · checked Sept 2026

The Haunch of Venison claims 1320. No earlier record has been found.

Claimed

1320

First record

none found

Building

no single date

The building. House, now public house, largely mid-C15 timber framing under stucco, with C18 remodelling of the street front — we give it no single date because Historic England dates the building largely to the mid-C15 without giving a year.

Historic interior

Real ale

Food

Legend

The claim

A narrow three-storey house beside the market place, with a rare pewter-topped bar counter, panelled snugs and a tiny upper room called the House of Lords where a mummified hand is kept in a case. CAMRA rates the interior among the most important in the country. The rear windows look over St Thomas's churchyard.

What the records show

The 1320 is the pub's own: its history page says the first record is circa 1320, when the building housed craftsmen working on the cathedral spire, and the home page claims nearly 700 years and probably the oldest hostelry in Salisbury. Historic England reads the building differently: largely mid-C15, and originally the church house for St Thomas's, its Grade II* listing valuing the clear evidence of a change from church house to public house. So the fabric is a century later than the claim and the drinking came later again. What is not in doubt is the interior — pewter bar, panelling and the small upstairs room known as the House of Lords, with its mummified hand.

What to look for inside

One of very few surviving pewter bar counters
Upstairs snug known as the House of Lords, with a mummified hand
Three-star entry on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors

Visiting

The Haunch of Venison is in Salisbury, England, at 1 Minster Street, Salisbury SP1 1TB. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

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