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
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem - other pubs which claim to be the oldest include Ye Olde Salutation Inn and The Bell Inn also in Nottingham, and Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans, north of London. The pub claims that it was established in 1189 AD - the year that Richard the Lionheart became king and Pope Gregory VIII called for a Third Crusade to the Holy Land; however, there is no documentation to verify this date. Evidence suggests that caves in the rock against which the pub is built were used as a brewhouse for Nottingham Castle, and may date from around the