The Black Lion, Hereford - Some History

As we mentioned to in our blog post last week, The Black Lion on Bridge Street, Hereford is in fact the city's oldest pub.

The building itself dates back to 1550 and has much of its original structure still intact. The first floor of the pub includes some magnificent wall paintings thought to be as old as the pub itself which depict people in the act of breaking the ten commandments.

Much of the pub is thought to have been built using timber from ships that never sailed which explains its often creaky and uneven nature.

The building first became and Inn in 1778 and was popular with travellers from the South and traders coming from the Welsh valleys. The stables at the rear of the pub's beer garden, mentioned in our latest review, date from this period.