The Royal Standard Of England: ‘Oldest Freehouse In England’

With a 900-year history, The Royal Standard of England in Beaconsfield claims to be the oldest freehouse in England.

The ancient pub is also well known for featuring in popular movies such as Hot Fuzz (2007) and The Theory of Everything (2014).

Although the first official mention of the pub appears in 1213, the site is said to have been previously used as an alehouse from Saxon times where beer was brewed.

During the Norman era, the pub received much of its trade from local tile-makers, whose jobs reportedly included making tiles for Windsor Castle and the Palace of Westminster.

Today, visitors enter through the ancient wooden doors, light disappears, as does the changing modern world you leave behind.

Making your way into the bar, over the medieval tiled floor; you are welcomed by warming smells of wood smoke, hops and home-cooked food.

Taking a seat, you are encased in a world of candlelit rooms, filled with treasures, trophies and ghosts of the past.

The first mention of the inn, originally known as ’Se Scip’ (The Ship), was made in 1213, although it is likely that an alehouse existed on the site prior to this date. 

However, it was not until after Charles II’s restoration to the throne in 1663 that the inn changed its name to the Royal Standard of England, the only inn in the country with the honour of this full title. 

It is said that the new king bestowed the honour in recognition of the loyalty and support given to the Royalists and to his executed father by the landlord.

During the Civil War, the inn was used as a mustering place for Lord Westworth’s Royalists before the Battle of Wycombe Rye in 1642. 

Legend has it that Prince Charles (later King Charles II) hid in the Priest Hole in the roof of the inn. 

In 1643, Roundhead soldiers executed a dozen Irish Confederate Cavaliers and raised their heads on pikes outside the inn, including a 12 year old drummer boy whose drum can occasionally be heard beating in the car park!

In later years successive landlords acted as accomplices for highwaymen, indicating to the robbers which travellers would be worthwhile ambushing. 

However, by the mid 18th century the inn’s trade had declined, largely because the brick and tile operations had moved elsewhere, and it reverted to an unlicensed alehouse on Lord Howe’s estate.

Fortunes were revived with the building of the railway at the start of the 20th century, with the opportunity to illegally supply the railwaymen with strong country ale known as ‘Owd Roger’. 

The beer was made from an old recipe brewed in Victorian times and this was eventually sold to Marston’s Brewery in Burton. 

Until recently, the Royal Standard remained renowned for selling this beer with a strength of over 7%.

Inside the pub

The original pub consisted of the settle room, corridor, front left room (first part) and rear left room.

The remaining parts of the building to either side of the bar were used as store rooms. Now it is an extraordinary amalgam of nooks and crannies and lots of exposed timber-work.

In 1963, there was a number of changes including the installation of some quality fittings but with the removal of parts of partitions.

This has meant that all the various spaces are interlinked apart from a room at the rear left, which does retains its door.

Left-hand door leads into a corridor with an old, very worn red-tiled floor, the right hand side of the corridor being created by the mighty bulging settle. Just before the settle there is the original door into the settle room.

The room has a red tiled floor, an old brick, tile and wood surround fireplace with a log fire, the bay window of this room was added in 1913 – the floor indicates the change – and the old wall benches here and the cabinet, were added at this time.

Above the impressive curved settle are old wood panels that reach the ceiling. Sadly, the partition at the rear is lost creating a widish gap into the room.

On the left of the corridor a doorway (gap reduced by the positioning of a high backed settle) leads into a small two-part room with new flagstone-like floor, also with a bay window also added in 1913.

This was originally a small saloon bar according to old postcards in a frame on the back of the settle and therefore has been doubled in size by knocking through to another small room in 1963.

The snug part at the rear has a brick fireplace with an old fireback now situated above it which does look like 1963 work.

At the rear left is another small low, beamed room with a door and screeded floor – this is another original room (called the Candle Room?).

The entrance passageway continues with a red brick floor and leads to a piece of bar counter made of ancient timbers and brick and dating from 1963.

Beyond the settle room is an area in front of the servery with a flagstone floor having been moved back to create greater space.

The original serving hatch was approximately 4ft from the back of the snug – the bar fittings date from 1963 or later.

On the right is the King Charles Room, a large ‘barn-like’ room with open rafters and nooks and crannies which were brought into use in post-war times – see a newspaper article on the back of the settle which indicates it was in use in the 1950s.

Some of the stained glass was procured from the Blitz, however this will soon be relocated to a new dining area.

It had an old brick fireplace but this was lost when this room was sympathetically extended to the right in 2017 and modern fireplace added as well as new toilets at the rear right (also lost was three big urinals in both gents).

The fielded panelled bar counter dates back to 1963 but the bar-back was replaced much more recently.

The pub itself says it’s haunted

According to their official website, there is occasionally the sound of a drum beating in the visitor carpark.

The noise beats through the pub sounding the alarm of the young drummer boy, killed by the Roundheads in 1643.

Then there is the ghost who walks through walls. There are two interpretations of the ghost in the bar - a shadowy male figure striding across the bar and then disappearing in the wall next to Edmund Burkes old fireplace in the Candle Room.

The first is that it is reputed to be one of the executed cavaliers.

The second version is that of a traveller accidentally killed by the notorious Earl of Barrymore in 1788.

Barrymore belonged to a club called the Four Horse Club whose reckless members would pay unsuspecting coachman to give them the reins and then drive at breakneck speed.

The traveler was crushed outside the pub by a speeding coach and four.

The bloody corpse was brought into the pub and the landlord was paid hush-money over the incident, and an unknown traveler has been haunting the downstairs ever since.

Most recently in 1944, “Tomahawk Warrior”, a US B17 bomber Flying Fortress crashed over the road with the loss of all nine crew members.

Someone who recently visited the pub said: “This is the oldest pub in England but has a modern British menu that presents classic dishes like Liver and Bacon with the elegance necessary and substantial portions.

”I love the atmosphere and the friendly and professional service of all the staff. Certainly deserve to be visit time and time again.”

The pub is in Beaconsfield, a town in Buckinghamshire, England. It’s located in a quiet, rural setting that’s less than two miles from Beaconsfield rail station, around a 30 minute walk.

The pub has its own large car park or a local bus, the 577, will take you part of the way followed by a 15 minute walk.

The Royal Standard is also a dog-friendly pub, so feel free to bring your four-legged friend.

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