Ye Olde Fighting Cocks

Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is a pub in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is one of several pubs that lay claim to being the oldest in England, claiming to have been in business since 793 AD. Its claim to that date is somewhat uncertain: the building is described by Historic England as being of 16th-century appearance, and the earliest date for which it might have been licensed is 1756. Other pubs such as Ye Olde Man & Scythe in Bolton, Greater Manchester, and Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham also make unproved claims to being the oldest. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks was once listed as the oldest in England by the Guinness World Records, but the record was withdrawn from consideration in 2000 because it was deemed impossible to verify. Elsewhere in St Albans, the White Hart and the Fleur de Lys (currently called The Snug) are believed to have been trading as inns in the late medieval period.