The Bell Inn Cellars are opened to the public on regular guided tours. In 1998, Channel 4 television series "History Hunters" examined the claims of The Bell Inn, Ye Olde Salutation Inn and Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem to each be the oldest pub in Nottingham. The programme, first broadcast on 5 December 1998, concluded that of the three, Ye Olde Salutation was the oldest "building" but the Bell had been the earliest in use as a pub. The Bell Inn The Bell Inn is an ancient pub in Nottingham, England. Dating from around 1437, it claims, along with Ye Olde Trip to
Oldest town in Britain Aldwych. But neither these, nor anything that has been shown from the ruins of the abandoned Roman Colonia of Colchester, can be taken to represent the formation of a new township along distinctively early English principles. Ipswich makes that claim. Thatcham in Berkshire is often said to be the oldest town in Britain, since its occupation can be traced back to a mesolithic hunting camp, which was discovered there beside a Post-glacial rebound period lake, and there is evidence of human occupation within and around Thatcham covering the past 13,000 years or more. There is strong evidence to support the