Serving since
1972
54 years in Boston
Warren Tavern
- Go here for
- Lobster rolls · Clam chowder · Shepherd's pie
- Why go
- Drink in a Charlestown tavern building from 1780, reopened as the Warren Tavern in 1972.
The building dates from 1780 and was a tavern until 1813, then housed other businesses. We count from 1972, when the Warren Tavern reopened there as a tavern.
Why it matters
The building went up in 1780, one of the first raised in Charlestown after the town was burned during the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was named for Dr. Joseph Warren, and its patrons included George Washington and Paul Revere.
It stopped operating as a tavern in 1813. Over the following century and a half the building housed other businesses, including a bakery, a private club and a warehouse. The Boston Redevelopment Authority restored it in 1971, and in 1972 new owners Alan and Ann Cunha and Neil and Ed Grennan reopened it as the Warren Tavern.
Superior Dining Group, a greater-Boston restaurant group, bought it in 2006 and still lists it among its restaurants.
The story
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Notes on the record
- Our year is 1972, not 1780. The Boston Preservation Alliance says the building stopped operating as a tavern in 1813 and reopened in 1972. The tavern's own site and much press date it from 1780.
- Some accounts give a different history: the Boston Globe (2026) says it "closed during Prohibition", and management told the Globe in 2017 it had closed "only for short intervals between owners". We follow the Preservation Alliance's 1813–1972 account.
Details
- Address
- 2 Pleasant Street, Boston, MA 02129
- Neighborhood
- Charlestown
- Ownership
- Part of a restaurant group
- Status
- Open · verified Sep 2026
OldScore
A secondary, editorial measure. The founding year above is the fact that matters most. How it works.
| Age | 15 | / 35 |
|---|---|---|
| Continuity | 20 | / 20 |
| Local significance | 15 | / 20 |
| Local food culture | 5 | / 15 |
| Independence | 3 | / 10 |
| OldScore | 58 | / 100 |
More like this
Sources
- Warren Tavern (official site) Address, What to order, Current status, History
- Superior Dining Group (official site) Ownership
- Boston Preservation Alliance, Boston's Legacy Businesses: Pubs Founding year, History
- Boston Globe, "Union Oyster House is 200. How do Boston's ye olde restaurants hold up?" (Devra First, Aug 19, 2026) History
- Boston Globe, "Paul Revere drank here: A quest to find Boston's oldest tavern" (Brian MacQuarrie, Dec 30, 2017), as republished by the Massachusetts Society of the SAR History
- History of Massachusetts Blog, "History of Warren Tavern" Founding year, History, Ownership