The claim
Inside Chester's city walls on Northgate Street, the Pied Bull claims roots in 1155 and calls itself the city's oldest licensed house. An open-well oak staircase the pub dates to 1535, and its listing reads as 17th-century, climbs from the hall, and it runs the only microbrewery within the walls, supplying its own real ales. It also runs as a hotel with 31 bedrooms.
What the records show
The pub says it dates to 1155, is reputedly Chester's oldest licensed house and has a staircase of 1535. Historic England's entry for 57 Northgate Street, read on 17 September 2026, calls the house an inn, probably on the site of two medieval tenements, and dates the fabric to the 17th century, partly refronted later that century and extended to the rear in the 19th. The oldest thing it names is oak framing on the division between the two former tenements, which it puts at perhaps the 16th century, and it describes the open-well stair as 17th-century oak rather than 1535. It ends with George Borrow, who drank here and wrote about the ale in Wild Wales. So the register supports a 17th-century inn on a medieval plot and nothing within five hundred years of 1155, which stays tradition.
What to look for inside
- Only microbrewery within Chester's city walls
- Staircase said to date from 1535
Visiting
The Pied Bull is in Chester, England, at 57 Northgate Street, Chester CH1 2HQ. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- www.piedbull.co.uk/
- camra.org.uk/pubs/pied-bull-chester-137130
- historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1376356
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/315053
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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