Lincoln guide

The best pubs in Lincoln that no pub company owns, and who owns the building instead

Most British pubs are owned by a pub company. The licensee behind the bar may be local and independent, but the building, the beer contract and often the rent belong to Star Pubs, Punch, Stonegate, Marston’s or Greene King. This page lists the Lincoln pubs where that is not the case, and says who does own each building.

It is a collection, not a ranking. Every pub below is in Lincoln CAMRA’s records, and most have also won a Lincoln CAMRA award or appear in Lincoln and Beyond’s real ale guide. We took each ownership line from CAMRA’s pub records, which list the freehold and leasehold owner. Free houses come first. Next are pubs owned by family or independent breweries, which are not pub companies but are not free houses either. Last are the well-loved pubs that turn out to be pubco-owned.

Free houses and privately owned pubs

No pub company and no brewery owns the building. The freeholder is a private person, a small property company or, in two cases, not on record, where the pub or CAMRA describes it as a free house.

  • The Joiners Arms, Pub4 Victoria Street, LN1 1HU, a back street a few minutes from the Brayford. CAMRA records the freeholder as an individual, not a company. A Victorian local with two open fires, a pool table, darts and a retro Space Invaders machine, a beer garden with sculptures and steampunk bike racks, a Tuesday quiz and four changing cask ales. Dogs welcome.
  • The Cardinal's Hat, Pub268 High Street, LN2 1HW, at the top of the High Street, near the foot of Steep Hill. A Grade II listed building dating from the 15th century, and an inn from 1521 until about 1800. The freehold belongs to P. Creane (Civil Engineering) Limited and the lease to Conon Properties Limited, so neither owner is a pub company. Many small rooms, a roof terrace, four regular and four changing cask ales, and real cider.
  • The Tiny Tavern, Micropub107 High Street, LN5 7PY, downhill. CAMRA lists it as a free house. Two Grade II listed 17th-century cottages turned into a pub. You ring a bell to go in through one door and leave by the other, and there is a surprisingly roomy garden at the back. Beers come from breweries all over the country, with real cider some of the time.
  • The Birdcage, Pub54 Baggholme Road, LN2 5BQ, in the east end. Its own website calls it a freehouse, and CAMRA lists its operator as independent. A street-corner community pub with settees and a busy events calendar: quizzes, live bands, open mic, comedy, vinyl nights and a ukulele group. Timothy Taylor’s Landlord is always on, alongside guest ales from Lincolnshire brewers such as Ferry Ales.
  • The Jolly Brewer, Pub27 Broadgate, LN2 5AQ. The freehold belongs to D J Mitchell Property Ltd, a property company, not a pub group. This is the music pub on the list: live music on many nights, a partly covered courtyard, darts and table football, and a 2am close on Fridays and Saturdays. CAMRA’s record says it serves no cask ale at the moment.

Owned by a family or independent brewery

A brewery owns or leases the pub and supplies most of the beer, so these are tied pubs, not free houses. The breweries are family or founder businesses that brew their own beer, not pub companies. Four belong to Batemans of Wainfleet, a Lincolnshire brewery founded in 1874 and still owned by the Bateman family (see who owns Batemans).

  • The Victoria, Pub6 Union Road, LN1 3BJ, by the castle’s west gate. A pub since the 1840s. Batemans owns the freehold and an individual holds the lease. It was fully renovated and reopened under new management in February 2023, and it pulls in locals and castle visitors alike.
  • The Treaty of Commerce, Pub173 High Street, LN5 7AF, near the level crossing. Batemans owns and runs it. A narrow building with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, named after the Anglo-French trade treaty of 1860. It pours three regular Batemans cask ales and two real ciders, and has a beer garden and a barber on site. Busy on match days.
  • The Queen in the West, Pub12–14 Moor Street, LN1 1PR, in the West End. Batemans owns the freehold. A stone corner pub that has grown into the cottages next door, with a separate lounge and public bar. Batemans XB and Timothy Taylor Landlord are regulars, alongside a garden and sports on TV.
  • The Dog & Bone, Pub10 John Street, LN2 5BH. CAMRA lists Batemans as the operator. It was Lincoln CAMRA’s Pub of the Year in 2014, and has had a new tenant since December 2022, who runs it as a community local. Three regular cask ales.
  • The Golden Eagle, Pub21 High Street, LN5 8BD, at the southern end near Sincil Bank. The freehold is held by Tynemill, the company behind Nottingham’s Castle Rock Brewery, which runs around twenty pubs of its own. A building from the 1700s with two bars, up to nine cask ales, a large covered and heated garden, and two beer festivals a year. Dog friendly, with a log burner in the front lounge.
  • The Organ Grinder, Pub4 Eastgate, LN2 1QA, uphill by the cathedral. Blue Monkey Brewery holds the lease and runs the pub. Blue Monkey is an independent Nottinghamshire brewery founded in 2008, with a handful of Organ Grinder pubs. The room is industrial in style, with up to six cask ales, craft keg and two ciders. You can bring your own food. Over-18s only; dogs welcome.
  • Widow Cullen's Well, Pub29 Steep Hill, LN2 1LU. Samuel Smith, the family brewery in Tadcaster, owns the freehold, so the beer is Sam Smith’s own. A Grade II listed 16th-century building, reopened in 2009, with a real fire and a garden. Like every Sam Smith’s pub it bans phones and laptops in the bar, which some people count as a reason to go.

Well-loved Lincoln pubs that are pubco-owned

These pubs are good, and some are run by long-serving local licensees. But a pub company owns the building, which is why they are not in the list above:

  • The Strugglers Inn, 83 Westgate. Lincoln CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2022, 2023 and 2025, with up to nine cask ales. An individual holds the lease, but the freehold belongs to Heineken UK, whose pub company is Star Pubs.
  • The Wig & Mitre, 30 Steep Hill. Operated by Punch Pubs & Co.
  • The Lion & Snake (79 Bailgate), the Magna Carta (Exchequer Gate) and the Still (Saltergate). All three are Marston’s pubs. The Witch & Wardrobe on Waterside North also sits on a Marston’s freehold.
  • The Morning Star (Greetwell Gate) is a Stonegate pub, and the Stags Head (Newport) and the Dandy Lion (Newland) are Star Pubs.
  • The Adam & Eve Tavern, 25 Lindum Road, which claims to be Lincoln’s oldest tavern. CAMRA lists its operator as independent, but the freehold belongs to The Indigo Pub Company Limited (company 06244811), a small pub company registered in Lincoln, so we have not called it a free house.

Every UK pub company and who owns it shows who sits behind each of those names.

Leaving Wetherspoons?

Lincoln has two city-centre Wetherspoons: the Ritz at 143–147 High Street and the Square Sail on Brayford Wharf North. Wetherspoons is not a pub company renting out buildings. It is a listed chain of about 800 pubs that it runs itself, with its founder holding roughly a quarter of the shares, as who owns Wetherspoons explains. If you want a pint somewhere that is not a chain, these are the nearest switches:

  • From the Ritz: the Tiny Tavern (107 High Street) and the Treaty of Commerce (173 High Street) are both a few minutes’ walk along the same street. For a proper session, the Golden Eagle, at 21 High Street near Sincil Bank, has up to nine cask ales.
  • From the Square Sail: the Joiners Arms on Victoria Street is a few minutes’ walk away, and the Queen in the West on Moor Street is a little further into the West End.
  • If you are going for price: none of these will match Wetherspoons on every pint, and we have not compared prices. For good-value cask ale, the brewery-owned pubs above are the closest match, because the beer comes straight from the brewery that owns them.

Where to go next

If you want the same approach for coffee, best flat white in Lincoln names the roaster and the company behind each café.

How this was checked

Every ownership line was read on 16 September 2026 from the pub’s record in CAMRA’s pub database, which gives a freehold owner, a leasehold owner and an operator. For the Birdcage we also used the pub’s own website. Batemans’ ownership comes from our own article on the brewery. The list of pubs to check came from Lincoln CAMRA’s records and Lincoln and Beyond’s real ale guide. Nothing was scored, so the entries are grouped rather than numbered.

The Imp & Angel micropub on the lower High Street was left out because CAMRA marks it closed long term. Hotel bars such as the Tower Hotel, the White Hart and the Duke William were left out too: they belong to hotel or restaurant companies, and this page is about pubs.