Serving since
1909
117 years in Boston
J.J. Foley's Cafe
- Go here for
- Fish & chips · Guinness
- Why go
- The same family has run this Irish pub on the same South End corner since 1909.
- Local character
- Neighborhood regulars. A neighborhood pub off the tourist circuit. Its crowd is regulars.
Same family, same corner. The street was then called Dover Street.
Why it matters
Jeremiah Foley, an immigrant from County Kerry, opened the pub in 1909 on the street now called East Berkeley Street. The Foley family still runs it, now into its fourth and fifth generations.
In 1919 the Boston police voted to strike at Fay Hall, the meeting hall upstairs from the bar. The current owners describe the pub as "part of the neighborhood".
The story
Notes on the record
- J.J. Foley's is often called Boston's oldest Irish pub. We haven't found a source that compares it against every rival, so we report the claim rather than make it.
Details
- Address
- 117 East Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02118
- Neighborhood
- South End
- Ownership
- Family-owned
- Status
- Open · verified Sep 2026
OldScore
A secondary, editorial measure. The founding year above is the fact that matters most. How it works.
| Age | 33 | / 35 |
|---|---|---|
| Continuity | 20 | / 20 |
| Local significance | 15 | / 20 |
| Local food culture | 10 | / 15 |
| Independence | 10 | / 10 |
| OldScore | 88 | / 100 |
Local character: Neighborhood regulars. A neighborhood pub off the tourist circuit. Its crowd is regulars. This is separate from OldScore: a place can be popular with visitors and still belong here.
More like this
Sources
- J.J. Foley's Cafe (official site, About Us) Founding year, Ownership, Address, What to order, Current status
- Boston Preservation Alliance, Boston's Legacy Businesses: Restaurants & Cafes Founding year, Ownership
- Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, "Culinary Corner: J.J. Foley's" Founding year, Ownership, What to order
- Boston.com, "What's the oldest Irish pub in Boston?" (Mar 13, 2023) Founding year, History, Ownership