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Beer of the Week (w/e 14th June 2026) with Mobyduck on the Pub Forum

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Submitted on Sunday, 8^th June 2025
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Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, Nottingham

1 Brewhouse Yard
Nottingham
NG1 6AD

Correct details

Pub Type

Greene King

Served areas

Nottingham Central

Reviews of Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem (Average Rating: 7½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Quinno _ left this review about Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem

‘Oldest pub in Britain’ alongside several dozen others. And there's no doubt it's kept well and feels the part, no piped music and lots of atmosphere – just as I remembered from my previous (and only) visit in 2011. A GK pub still though guest ales rule and an impressive set too, my Shipstone Red was really good (NBSS 4) so more than just a tourist trap. 6pm weekday touch-down after the day-trippers have gone home was a good bet to get a quiet and immersive experience. I enjoyed myself. Not 2025 GBG which I find mildly surprising. 8.5

November 2011
The Pub in Nottingham That Everyone Knows was always going to feature on my visit to the city and came burdened with a certain level of expectation (and tourists, like me). Claiming to be the oldest pub in Britain - along with a dozen others of course - this one has the ‘built into the rock by the castle’ factor which gives it claims a bit of geological credence. Many others below have had a bash at describing the place better than I, so I’ll hit the bullet points instead of adding superfluous flowery prose:

*multi-roomed, lots of little cave spaces to hide away in with your beer but cramped as a consequence
* ring on the horn game but often can’t be played as tables in the way
* no TV, no background music
* cursed galleon/pregnancy chair rubbish
* converted bar upstairs now sells tourist tat
* small bar downstairs means you’re in for a wait most days
* restaurant upstairs further reducing capacity
* suit of armour
* tapestry depicting Nottingham history

The pub, having been acquired by Greene King after their takeover of Hardy & Hansons, now contains a chunk of their beers (including their remix of H&H Olde Trip) alongside beers from the local Nottingham brewery, five in total on my visit (though sometimes there are more). The two Notts beers I had were in good shape and tasty enough, reasonably priced given I was expecting getting on for £4 a pop. The small courtyard area out the front looked like a good summer’s lounger, being in the shadow of the castle. This is one of those pubs you must do at least once. There's so much character even if its fame makes for a slow and uncomfortable visit for large periods of the week. As with any tourist destination, be clever about when you visit and there’s much to enjoy here. Rated 9

On 21^st May 2026 - rating: 9
[User has posted 6166 recommendations about 6146 pubs]

Blackthorn _ left this review about Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem

Well described by many others below, this has been on my “to do” list for a long time as it’s allegedly the oldest pub in the country, and a plaque on the wall in the small courtyard beer garden says that’s it’s been going since 1189. It would be interesting to know what it was like then, the building on the front of the rock face certainly appears to be more recent than that, although it is still nonetheless an attractive timbered building.

Internally it’s something of a rabbit warren as might be expected from a pub that’s been hollowed out of the caves below the castle. It’s spread across a couple of floors, with the only original part of the ground floor being a small snug behind the bar counter. A larger room extended forwards adjacent to the courtyard. The snug was quite cosy and very dark. The walls and ceiling pretty much merged in to one as they were just hewn from the rock with no clear delineation between one and the other. A small fireplace made with black painted bricks was off to one side, and next to it stood a suit of armour dressed in some of the pub’s own apparel. Padded bench seating was fitted around much of the perimeter, along with small stools elsewhere. The light fittings looked as though they could have been commensurate with the pub’s age, albeit converted to electricity now. A few old books were on the mantlepiece and a further head from a suit of armour was on a shelf in the corner. The larger front room, whilst clearly not so old was nonetheless still quite pleasant, with slate style tiling on the floors, black beams on the whitewashed ceiling and exposed stonework on much of the walls.

Upstairs it opened out somewhat in to a larger room, again hewn from the rock, and there was another small bar counter in here, although this was not in use on our Sunday lunchtime visit. Décor wise it’s broadly similar to downstairs although much lighter due to the windows at the front. A long shaft extended a considerable way up through the rock, perhaps a ventilation shaft or chimney at one time. Up a few more stairs and down a passageway was a much smaller room with modern slate tiling on the floor but otherwise original perhaps, with a couple of swords mounted in display cases on the wall.

Beers on tap were Green King IPA, Old Peculiar, Abbeydale Absolution, Hardy & Hanson’s Olde Trip, Welbeck Abbey Saint James, Nottingham EPA, Stancill No 7, Beermats Matte Black and Milestone Cursed Galleon. Ciders meanwhile were Old Mout Berries & Cherries, Mortimer’s Orchard and Henry Weston’s Vintage. Overall, a real must visit, and despite the potential for it to be something of a tourist trap, it really didn’t feel like one and I could see myself visiting regularly if I were a local.

On 20^th June 2025 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2123 recommendations about 2019 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Moby Duck left this review about Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem

I was somewhat dubious about visiting this pub given it's tourist trap reputation and avoided going in on an early Saturday evening, instead opted for an opening time visit on the Sunday, handily at 11.am, I'm glad I did, we had the pub to ourselves for a good fifteen minutes or so before one or two others drifted in,time to wander around the interesting multiple areas within the pub. Apart from a couple of their own beers on there is little to point to this being a Greene King run pub, which suits me. There was good beer choice available over a total of nine handpumps, I opted for a Beermats Prismatic in decent shape. I found this pub an excellent start to the day and will go as far as to say a must visit pub but timing is everything.

On 17^th November 2024 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2331 recommendations about 2295 pubs]

View more reviews of Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem (29)

This pub features in the following crawls:
Nottingham Alternative Crawl by Mark Davey
"Child Friendly" pubs in central Nottingham by Will Larter

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