The Eagle

The Eagle is a Grade II listed public house in central Cambridge, standing on Bene’t Street near Corpus Christi College. Its front dates from about 1600, with a 19th-century galleried wing facing an inner courtyard. The building opened as a coaching inn in 1667 and is the city’s second oldest pub after the Pickerel Inn. Greene King brewery runs the pub while Corpus Christi College owns the site. Beneath its plain exterior lies a long social history that still draws visitors today. The pub became famous in the Second World War when Allied airmen used candles, lighters and lipstick to leave their names and squadron numbers on the ceiling of the rear bar. RAF Flight Sergeant P. E. Turner started the tradition by burning his squadron number into the plaster. In the early 1990s former RAF Chief Technician James Chainey uncovered and preserved these wartime marks. The room is now known as the RAF Bar, its ceiling covered in faded signatures and doodles. A second claim to fame came on 28 February 1953 when Francis Crick interrupted lunchtime drinkers to announce the DNA structure discovery. Inside, the middle room holds the table where Crick and James Watson often ate and sketched amino acids during their work at the Cavendish Laboratory. A blue plaque beside the entrance and two smaller plaques mark the spot. The pub still serves a special ale called Eagle’s DNA in honour of the moment. Outside, the courtyard offers a quiet space away from the busy street. The building remains a place where science and social life meet, its walls echoing both wartime memories and groundbreaking science.