The claim
Squat and octagonal beside the River Ver below St Albans Abbey, the Fighting Cocks is one of Britain's most famous oldest-pub contenders. The 793 date is legend, but the building itself began life as a medieval abbey dovecote before being rebuilt as a house around 1600. Inside are low ceilings, snug alcoves and an old bread oven.
What the records show
The 793 is the pub's own claim: its website says the original structure has been dated as far back as 793AD. Historic England notes the 793 date first appears on an early-20th-century postcard. Legal papers show the old pigeon house was rebuilt as the 'Round House' by 1622; the first firm record as an alehouse (the Three Pigeons) is 1756, and the Fighting Cocks name appears by 1806. The 1756 is the St Albans & Herts Architectural & Archaeological Society's own finding, published on its site: it says the house was trading as an alehouse that year under the sign of the Three Pigeons, and calls that the earliest confirmed date its research has reached. The same piece takes the pub's wall board apart - the renaming tale of 1849 rests on a historian's conjecture from the 1960s, and the Fisherman was a different beerhouse further up Abbey Mill Lane - and puts the re-erection of the pigeon house between 1600 and 1622 rather than at 1600.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| AD 793 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| 1756 | First record of a drinking house here | St Albans & Herts Architectural & Archaeological Society |
What to look for inside
- Octagonal building originally a medieval abbey pigeon house
- 793 claim traced to an early-20th-century postcard
- Entered administration in February 2022 and reopened under new management
Visiting
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is in St Albans, England, at 16 Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans AL3 4HE. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- camra.org.uk/pubs/olde-fighting-cocks-st-albans-192544
- www.stalbanshistory.org/social-history/industry/the-enigmatic-history-of-the-fighting-cocks
- heritagecalling.com/2022/12/22/what-is-the-oldest-pub-or-inn-in-england/
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Fighting_Cocks
- www.fightingcockssa.com
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/1715858
Then and now
Photographed about 1956, and today. The same corner in 1956, with the brick building beside it that has since gone.
Photo: Dr Neil Clifton · licenceKnow something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Oct 2026
Run this pub? There is a badge for it
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.
