Ye Olde Dolphin Inne on Queen Street is Derby's oldest pub, with parts of the building dating to around 1530. It is a Grade II listed building — a low-ceilinged, timber-framed structure that has been serving ale on this corner for nearly five hundred years. The interior is genuine rather than themed: thick beams, uneven floors, and rooms at different levels accumulated through centuries of alteration rather than designed by a pub chain.
The pub keeps a good range of cask ales, with a preference for local and regional breweries. It attracts a mixed crowd of workers, students, and tourists drawn by the building itself. The area around Queen Street and the Cathedral Quarter is the most atmospheric part of the old town, and the Dolphin makes a natural stop on any exploration of it.