Older than the postcards.

Halfway down Fore Street — the cobbled lane that carries most of St Ives between the harbour and the church — stands a mid-nineteenth-century, three-storey building with a black-and-gold front and hanging baskets that go up every summer. It has been The Union Inn for as long as anyone drinking here can remember, and it is Grade II listed: entry 1143378 on the National Heritage List for England, listed since 1972.

Inside, the pub keeps its age well. Two carpeted levels, beamed ceilings, wood panelling darkened by time, and an open fire when winter closes in. Along the walls hang old photographs of the harbour just down the hill — pictures that record the pub's past connections with the Union Castle shipping line, from the days when the sea was the town's whole living.

It is also the town's music pub. Three nights a week — Wednesday, Friday and Saturday — the tables get a little closer together and there's live music at the Union, which locals will tell you is one of the best live music spots in town.

The kitchen does what a proper pub kitchen should: fresh fish landed by local boats, meat from a local butcher, a specials board that changes with the day, and a traditional Sunday roast. Dogs are welcome, families are welcome, and nobody hurries you out. That's rather the point.