Food & drink / Oxford
The Bear Inn
Oxford’s oldest pub name, in a low-ceilinged 17th-century room hung with 4,500 snipped-off club ties.
01 / Why it matters
More than a stop on a list.
The oldest name in Oxford drinking, in a room so small the ceiling is the exhibit — thousands of club ties, clipped from their owners in exchange for a pint.
The Bear carries the oldest pub name in Oxford, and the documentation is real: on 28 April 1241 Lady Christina Pady left the site to St Frideswide’s Priory. It was Le Tabard by 1432 and The Bear Inn by 1457. The complication — which the sign outside does not mention — is that the inn those records describe stood on the High Street and closed in 1801, when it had over thirty bedrooms and stabling for thirty horses. The building you drink in is the ostler’s house from that coaching inn, put up in the early 17th century on the corner of Alfred Street and Blue Boar Street. It is tiny, low-beamed, and seats about two dozen inside. The ceilings and walls carry more than 4,500 snippets of club ties, a collection begun in 1952 by the landlord Alan Course, who cut them from drinkers with a pair of scissors in return for half a pint. It later turned up as a plot device in Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse.
02 / The essentials
What makes it remarkable.
- 01
The site was bequeathed to St Frideswide’s Priory by Lady Christina Pady on 28 April 1241.
- 02
Recorded as Le Tabard by 1432 and as The Bear Inn by 1457.
- 03
The original coaching inn stood on the High Street and closed in 1801; the present pub was its ostler’s house, built in the early 17th century.
- 04
More than 4,500 club tie-ends are displayed, collected since 1952 by the landlord Alan Course.
- 05
Seats roughly two dozen inside — one of the smallest pubs in central Oxford.
03 / The place
The building in context.
A story written in stone since 1241.
- Built
- Earliest supported date: 1241
- Style
- Historic Oxford public house
04 / Before you go
Plan it well.
Enjoy it properly.
Practical detail, separated from the story so you can scan what matters when you are ready to visit.
Tickets & entry
Free to enter; you pay for what you drink and eat. No admission charge.
Opening hours
Ordinary pub hours, which change with the season, the day and the licensee — check the pub’s own page before making a special journey. Most Oxford pubs serve food at lunchtime and in the evening rather than all day.
Continue exploring / Oxford
What will you
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Plan / Itinerary builderBuild your Oxford dayStart planning →05 / Where it is
Find it
on the map.
05 / Good to know
Questions,
answered.
01Is it really Oxford’s oldest pub?
It has the oldest documented pub name — 1241 for the site. But the inn those records describe closed in 1801, and this building was its stableman’s house. The King’s Arms, licensed in 1607, makes a competing claim on continuity.
02What is the deal with the ties?
Since 1952 drinkers have been invited to swap the end of their club tie for a half pint. Over 4,500 are framed around the walls and ceiling.
03Is it big enough to get a table?
Rarely, inside. There are about two dozen seats; most people spill into the courtyard, which is the better bet in summer.