HISTORY

The Old Dolphin is Derby’s oldest surviving pub, claimed to have been founded in 1530. It is a fine example of a timber-framed building. The Dolphin was a well-known Christian symbol in medieval days, which gives credibility to the presumed date of the founding of the pub.

An old coaching inn, it is said to have been a stopping-off point for highwaymen including Dick Turpin. Recently, a hidden room was discovered on the first floor of the pub. A corridor in the pub was once a Derby street!

The pub’s 18th-century extension at the rear was originally a doctor’s house. Here he dissected bodies, using criminals who had been hung. According to folklore, one morning the doctor went down into his cellar after a body had been delivered and on pulling off the shroud found the person under it still clinLocation:
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Several ghosts reputedly haunt the pub, which is a regular calling place for ‘Ghost Walks’ organised by local celebrity Richard Felix, who stars in the TV series ‘Most Haunted’.

LOCATION

On the corner of Queen Street and Full Street, a few yards to the west of Derby Cathedral.