The Eagle

The Eagle is a Grade II listed public house in Cambridge, England which opened in 1667 as a coaching inn. It is the second oldest pub in Cambridge, after the Pickerell Inn. The street frontage, located on the north side of Bene't Street in the centre of the city, is of circa 1600, with a galleried 19th-century wing behind, facing the courtyard. The site is owned by Corpus Christi College and is managed by Greene King brewery.

During the Second World War, Allied airmen, who drank and socialised at The Eagle, used wax candles, petrol lighters and lipstick to write their names, squadron numbers and other doodles onto the ceiling of the rear bar. The tradition is believed to have been started by RAF Flight Sergeant P. E. Turner, who climbed up on the table one night to burn his squadron number on the ceiling. The graffiti, in what is now known as the "RAF Bar", was uncovered, deciphered and preserved by former RAF Chief Technician James Chainey during the early 1990s.

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