Thursday 10:30 am to 12:30 amRecorded 2026-09-11
Check with the pub before travelling.Our shared benchmark: Guinness Draught, one standard pint (568 ml). Dated observations from menus, receipts and the people who were there.
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Preserved directory details. Recorded information can change.
Reviewed pub lore
Established
Awarded a Guinness World Records certificate in 2004 as the oldest pub in Ireland. The pub's own claim — well-documented locally though disputed by some architectural historians — traces the inn back to 900 AD, when Luain Mac Luighdeach is said to have opened a hostelry near Áth Mor (the Great Ford).
Architecture
A section of original wattle-and-wicker wall, dated to the ninth century, is preserved on display behind glass. Coins from the same renovation now sit in the National Museum of Ireland.
Street role
Sits on the west bank of the Shannon at the river's narrowest point — the original ford that gave Athlone its name.
Rituals
The floor slopes down toward the river. Tradition holds it was deliberately so — the Shannon could flood through and out without taking the building with it.
Music
Listed on thesession.org as a regular trad-session venue (2009-08-17 16:58:42).
Reputation
Among the strongest claims to continuous tavern trade on a single site anywhere in Europe. The 900 AD date is contested by some architectural and archaeological scholars, who place the present building's fabric in the 17th or 18th century — but no one disputes that this corner of Athlone has been a public-house site for many hundreds of years.
Be sound. Welcome newcomers. Keep it about the pub.
Source observations, not owner-confirmed. Missing fields do not mean a service is unavailable.