Cheers Beacon Hill Boston: The Original Bull & Finch Pub on Beacon Street

Cheers Beacon Hill, the basement pub at 84 Beacon St. that opened in 1969 as the Bull & Finch and later became the face of the NBC sitcom Cheers, still opens its doors at 11 a.m. every day except Christmas across from the Boston Public Garden. For anyone planning a visit this fall, here is what the menu costs now, how the no-reservations line works, and what to expect once you get down the steps.

From the Bull & Finch to TV’s Most Famous Bar

The pub began as a practical idea. Tom Kershaw and a partner owned Hampshire House, the Beacon Street building above it, and wanted a better use for a basement that was mostly storage. They modeled the room on an English pub and gave it a name often linked to Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the Massachusetts State House a few blocks up the hill. In its first decade it was a neighborhood bar, and Boston magazine named it the city’s best bar in 1982.

That same era brought the visit that changed everything. In 1981, writers Glen and Les Charles and producer James Burrows came to Boston looking for a real local bar to anchor their new show. They chose the Bull & Finch, and Kershaw agreed to let them film the exterior for a fee of one dollar. The building appeared in the opening of all eleven seasons, from 1982 to 1993. On the night of the series finale in May 1993, a huge crowd gathered outside to watch on big screens while the cast watched inside, and Jay Leno broadcast The Tonight Show live from the party.

The bar officially took the name Cheers Beacon Hill in 2002 under a licensing deal with CBS Studios. A second location with a full replica of the TV set ran at Faneuil Hall from 2001 until August 2020, when it closed during the pandemic. That leaves Beacon Street as the original and only Cheers in Boston. The block outside is named Eddie Doyle Square after the longtime bartender whose 35-year run behind the bar began before the show existed.

Cheers Boston Menu Highlights and Prices

The food is straightforward American pub fare, and many dishes are named for the show’s characters. Prices below come from the restaurant’s official online menu as of October 2026 and can change.

• Starters: chicken fingers, pub skins, fried calamari, buffalo wings and mozzarella sticks run $19.99 each, and Nachos Grande is $17.99. The Norm’s Favorite combo platter, with three pieces each of five fried starters, is $27.99.
• Boston clam chowda: the house chowder, made with clams, Maine potatoes and cream, is $16.99 a mug or $17.99 a bowl, and any soup can go in a bread bowl for $3 more.
• Burgers: most burgers, including the mushroom-and-muenster Burger Meister, are $21.99 with fries. The double-patty Giant Norm Burger, stacked with onion rings and mushrooms, is $31.99.
• Sandwiches: options include Sam’s Turkey Sandwich, Frasier’s Chicken Panini and a pastrami reuben at $21.99, Carla’s Meatball Sub at $22.99, and a steak and cheese sub at $24.99.
• Entrees: Rebecca’s Fish & Chips and grilled salmon are $31.99, steak tips are $34.99, and mac and cheese is $19.99.

If chowder is the main reason for your trip, compare it with other local bowls in our guide to the best clam chowder in Boston. A children’s menu for ages 12 and under prices every item at $12, and a short gluten-free menu covers chili, salad, salmon and grilled chicken. The kitchen notes it shares prep areas and cannot guarantee any dish is allergen-free.

Drinks, Souvenir Mugs and the Screaming Viking

Draft beer comes in a classic souvenir mug, and you can buy the mug to take home for an extra $14, with $1 from each sale going to the bar’s Cheers for Children charity. The tap list leans local, with Sam Adams Lager, a Bull & Finch IPA, Harpoon Blueberry UFO and a Cheers Light brewed by Castle Island Brewing. Fans of the show can order the Screaming Viking, the fictional drink that won Sam his job back on TV, made here with rum, amaretto, pineapple and cranberry. The fall cocktail list adds a spiced pear margarita, maple bourbon cider and a pumpkin mudslide. Wines by the glass run about $12 to $16.

Atmosphere: What It’s Like Inside

Expect a mix of tourists and regulars, a gift shop’s worth of merchandise and a lot of photos at the door. The downstairs room keeps its dark wood pub feel. Over the years the bar also expanded upstairs into Hampshire House, adding a replica of the TV set for visitors who expect the Hollywood version of the room rather than the real basement. Kershaw still owns Cheers along with Hampshire House upstairs and the nearby 75 Chestnut.

Because the bar sits on the edge of the Public Garden and the Boston Common, it fits easily into a day of walking the Freedom Trail or strolling Charles Street. If you want a quieter neighborhood meal nearby, our look at brunch at The Paramount on Charles Street covers another Beacon Hill standby, and history fans can pair the visit with Union Oyster House, America’s oldest restaurant.

Cheers Beacon Hill Hours, Location and Tips

• Address: 84 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108, across from the Public Garden.
• Phone: (617) 227-9605.
• Hours: opens daily at 11 a.m., closed Christmas Day.
• Reservations: none. Seating is first come, first served, so a weekday lunch is usually the easiest time to walk in.
• Age policy: children are welcome until 10 p.m., after which the bar is 21 and over.
• Accessibility: the restaurant says it is wheelchair accessible and asks guests to call ahead for assistance.
• Getting there: the Arlington and Park Street MBTA stations are both a short walk through the Public Garden or the Common.
• Price range: most starters, burgers and sandwiches cost about $18 to $25, with entrees topping out near $35.

Cheers is not where Boston food critics go for cutting-edge cooking. It is a working pub with one of the most recognizable doorways in American television, solid chowder and burgers, and a few decades of history in the walls. Go early, snap your photo under the sign, and order a beer in the mug.

Sources

• Cheers Boston: official menus
• Cheers Boston: hours and location
• Wikipedia: Cheers Beacon Hill
• Wikimedia Commons: Cheers Beacon Hill photo by ajay_suresh (CC BY 4.0)