U Pinkasů has a clean claim on Prague drinking history: it was the first pub in the city to serve Pilsner Urquell on draught, back in 1843, the year the brewery's pale lager first reached the capital.
The pub stands on Jungmann Square in Nové Město, a short walk from the foot of Wenceslas Square, beside the Franciscan monastery and the Church of Our Lady of the Snows. Its founder, Jakub Pinkas, was a tailor who began pouring the new Pilsner for friends and turned the trade into a tavern.
According to Radio Prague International, Pinkas tapped the first barrel of Pilsner Urquell in Prague in 1843, and the pub has built its identity on that line ever since. The brewery's own history places the same date at the heart of the modern pale lager story, which makes a pint here a drink with a footnote attached.
The building runs across several floors, with themed rooms the pub nicknames the upper and lower houses of parliament, a vaulted Pinkas cellar, and a garden set against the old Franciscan cloister. The garden is the prize in warm weather, a quiet pocket of green a few steps off one of the busiest squares in the city.
The beer is the reason to come. Pilsner Urquell arrives fresh and unpasteurised, poured in the Czech manner with a thick head, and the kitchen sends out the plates that lager was made for: roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut, goulash, and sharp beer cheese to keep the thirst going. Prices stay at honest pub level rather than tourist markup.
Who would love it: anyone who wants a real Prague beer hall with genuine history rather than a themed copy, and travellers who like a garden seat. Who should skip it: drinkers after cocktails or a quiet date, since the rooms fill and the mood is communal.
The pub wears its history without turning it into a museum. The walls carry old photographs and the rooms keep their period names, but the place still works as a daily tavern for locals and visitors rather than a staged attraction. The mood is communal in the best pub sense.
Timing helps a visit. The garden and cellar are the rooms to seek out, the garden in summer and the vaulted cellar in colder months, and arriving before the evening rush makes a table easier to find near one of the busiest corners of the New Town.
The pub keeps long daily hours and sits within a few minutes of the city's other beer institutions. Drinkers can line it up against the rooms in our best pubs in Prague guide, alongside the medieval cellars of U Fleku, the brewery tradition of U Medvídků, and the tasting range at the Prague Beer Museum. For the wider scene, see our Prague bar guide.
What to order
- 01
Tank Pilsner Urquell
Unpasteurised lager poured from the tank, the house signature
75 Kč - 02
Roast pork, dumplings, kraut
The classic Czech plate built for the beer
235 Kč - 03
Beer cheese, paprika and onion
Sharp pub snack made to keep the next pint coming
165 Kč