Centuries of history blend with chilling ghost stories at The Old Crown in Digbeth, Birmingham’s oldest and most haunted pub
Walk through Digbeth in Birmingham and you’ll find yourself in the shadow of one of the city’s most atmospheric buildings. The Old Crown, with its black-and-white timbered frame, leans over the street like something out of a Tudor ghost story.
It is the oldest secular building in Birmingham – and one of the most haunted pubs in the Midlands.
The Old Crown, 188 High Street, Deritend B12 0LD
The Old Crown traces its origins back to the late 1400s, when it was built as the Guildhall and School of St John the Baptist in Deritend.
By the early 1600s it had become an inn, its half-timbered walls sheltering weary travellers making their way into Birmingham.
The pub has stood through Civil War skirmishes, threats of demolition in the Victorian period, and Luftwaffe bombs in the Second World War.
Discover other haunted pubs in our article “17 Haunted Birmingham Pubs Where Ghosts Linger”
Local historian Joshua Toulmin Smith campaigned to save it in the 19th century, and in more recent decades restorations have uncovered its hidden medieval well.
Today it is Grade II* listed, a living slice of medieval Birmingham among the industrial warehouses and railway arches of Digbeth.
Ghostly tales in the timbered rooms
For all its historic charm, The Old Crown is best known for its spooky reputation. Local lore says that more than one ghost calls the pub home.
The best-known story is of a woman whose child is said to have fallen into the well at the back of the building. Her restless spirit is believed to wander the pub, searching eternally for her lost child.
Staff and visitors have reported strange feelings near the well and in the beer garden.
Guests staying overnight in its rooms during the 1990s spoke of a white mist forming in the dark, only to vanish without trace.
Others mention sudden chills and the feeling of being watched in the upper rooms.
One of the pub’s most curious stories involves CCTV footage showing a bottle rolling across the floor without being touched – a possible prank of a mischievous poltergeist, or something stranger still.
Why The Old Crown is worth a visit
What makes The Old Crown such a great spooky pub is the combination of deep history and eerie atmosphere.
Few places in Birmingham can claim to have witnessed over 500 years of local life – from Tudor merchants to Victorian reformers, from Civil War soldiers to modern-day ghost hunters.
Whether you believe the stories or not, there’s no denying the mood of the place after dark.
The sloping beams, the warped floors, the quiet corners where shadows linger – they all seem made for ghost stories.
And unlike many haunted sites, The Old Crown is still a thriving pub.
You can sit with a pint where travellers rested in the 1600s, or stand in the yard where history and legend say a child’s cry once echoed.
There are loads of haunted pubs from across the UK and Ireland on SpookyIsles.com
