The claim
Black-and-white timber framing on the corner of Lower Bridge Street and Castle Street, with a sandstone undercroft at pavement level and the pillars of the old Chester Rows still standing on the middle floor. It works as a pub with rooms, open until midnight at weekends, and trades on a reputation for ghosts.
What the records show
Historic England is unusually specific: this Grade II* building was put up about 1208 as the town house of Peter the Clerk, who administered Chester Castle, and rebuilt from the old Row level upward in the C15, C16 and early C17 for Randle Holme I, first of four generations of heralds. So the 1208 is real, but it dates a house, not a house of drink. The pub's own history says it became an inn called the King's Head in 1717, and no earlier record of drinking here was traced, which is why this is a C rather than a B.
What to look for inside
- Built about 1208 as the town house of Peter the Clerk
- Rebuilt in 1622 for Randle Holme I, herald painter and mayor
- Pillars of the enclosed Chester Rows survive inside
Visiting
Ye Olde King's Head is in Chester, England, at 48-50 Lower Bridge Street, Chester CH1 1RS. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1376307
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_King%27s_Head_Hotel,_Chester
- camra.org.uk/pubs/olde-kings-head-chester-137109
- www.kingsheadchester.com/post/ye-olde-king-s-head-a-history
- www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp225-239
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/315114
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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