What’s the Oldest Company in the UK?

Kim Barrett
Nov 4 · 4 min read

More than half of the world’s oldest companies are from Japan. Until recently, the oldest company was a family-run Japanese temple builder, Kongo Gumi, that was founded in 578 but it closed in 2006. Its replacement as the oldest company in the world opened in 705. This company is a 35-room hot spring hotel in Japan called Keiunkan, which holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest hotel.

View over Japanese garden with trees and the hotel in the background
View over Japanese garden with trees and the hotel in the background
Keiunkan © 663highland (cc-by-sa/3.0)

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Kim Barrett

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Freelancer writer and software developer based in Oxford, UK. https://kbarrett.github.io/

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