In Cheers lore, what year did the bar open?

In Cheers lore, the bar opened in 1889.

That year is part of the sitcom’s fictional history and was revealed during the eighth season, in the episode “The Stork Brings a Crane.” The episode also says the bar originally operated under the name Mom’s and places it at the fictional address 112 Beacon Street in Boston.

The date is deliberately easy to misread because the bar’s sign displays “Est. 1895.” Cheers explains that this was not the true opening year: Carla selected 1895 for numerological reasons. Thus, 1895 is an in-story red herring, while 1889 is the canonical date in the show’s lore.

The fictional history also distinguishes the television bar from the real Boston pub that inspired its appearance. The Bull & Finch Pub supplied the model for Cheers’ exterior and interior, but its history should not be substituted for the show’s invented chronology. The bar had several owners before Sam Malone acquired it, adding to the running joke that the familiar neighborhood hangout was much older than it appeared.