THE Fighting Cocks is still officially Britain's oldest pub despite a challenge from a Bolton landlord who says his pub is older by at least two centuries.

Mr John Jewitt, who runs The Man and Scythe in Lancashire, made his claim in a televised interview last month featuring the pub's role in a medieval festival celebrating Bolton's 750th anniversary.

He said his pub dates back to 1251, which he believes makes it 234 years older than the Fighting Cocks.

He said: "The Fighting Cocks is recognised as the oldest by the Guinness Book of Records but it only moved to its present location, a pigeon coop, in 1485.

"The Man and Scythe was here in 1251 and we know this because the cellar was built using a technique they stopped using in 1200 so it must be the oldest."

But Fighting Cocks landlady Samantha Janney said: "Until I can see it in black and white in the Guinness book, then I'm not too bothered. We are officially the oldest pub in the country and that's it as far as I'm concerned. If they want to take their claim to Guinness then good luck to them, may the best man win."

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said it had not received an official claim from The Man and Scythe. It also disputed Mr Jewitt's claim that the Fighting Cocks, in Abbey Mill Lane, moved to its present location in the late 15th Century.

"Our records show it to be an 11th Century structure on an 8th Century site," she added.