The Bell Inn 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 Jerusalem and Ye Olde Salutation Inn, to be the oldest pub in the city. In 1982 the pub became a Grade II listed building. Sometime before 1271 Nottingham Whitefriars established a friary on what is now Friar Lane with lands that included a guesthouse on the site of what is now the Bell Inn. The building was constructed as a refectory for the monks of the monastery on Beastmarket Hill; according to dendrochronological dating of
Irish pub title "oldest pub in Dublin". It was not until 1635 that the government required pubs to be licensed. Grace Neill's in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland, which became licensed in 1611, holds the title of "oldest licensed pub in Ireland". Irish pubs or public houses were the working man's alternative to the private drinking establishments frequented by those who could pay for entry. In 1735 the "Drink on Credit to Servants Act" was enacted stating that any publican who sold a drink on credit to servants, labourers or other low-wage earners had no right to seek help from the law