Arkæologisk forskning fra National Museum of Ireland indikerer at der kan have ligget en pub på stedet i mindst et årtusinde, og at bygningen muligvis er ældre.[1]Kulstof 14-datering af materiale som mudder, træ og lerklining, samt tilstedeværelsen af pubpoletter (af uvis alder), der nu er udstillet på National Museum of Ireland, har yderligere underbygget "legenden" om pubbens alder.[1] Under renovering i 1970'erne blev det opdaget at bagvæggen var delvist opført i lerklining og pileflet.[7]
I 2004 blev Sean's Bar optaget i Guinness Rekordbog som den "ældste pib i Irland".[1][2][10] Indehaverne påstår at have en liste over "næsten alle tidligere ejere" der går flere hundrede år tilbage,[11][7] potentielt til Luans tid, som byen Athlone er opkaldt efter.[1][12]
I februar 2021 vandt ejerne af Sean's Bar, sammen med indehavere af andre irske barer, en retssag relateret til forsikringsudbetalingerne i forbindelse med coronaviruspandemien i Irland.[13]
^ abAn Bord Pleanala 2017, s. 33: "WM029-042087- [..] 'Sean's Bar' was originally a two storey high building with thick walls, an additional third storey in brick was added later. Preserved on the premises is a section of wattle partition removed from a first floor wall. This could be of seventeenth century date but it is not securely dated"
^An Bord Pleanala 2017, s. 34: "WM029-042086- [..] On the premises of Sean's Bar (WM029-042086-), 13 Main Street, is a late medieval stone built fireplace from a house on an island in Lough Ree"
Gwynn, Stephen Lucius (1914). The Fair Hills of Ireland. Maunsel. s. 250. Joyce thinks that Luan was a franklin, charged with the duty of hospitality, who maintained here a place of lodging, and that the place was called after him, Ath Luain, Luain's Ford
MacEacheran, Mike (14. marts 2019). "An Irish pub born in the Dark Ages". BBC Travel - Food & Hospitality (engelsk). bbc.com. Hentet 24. august 2021.
Fodor's Essential Ireland 2020. Fodor's Travel. 2019. ISBN9781640971714. Sean's Bar styles itself as the world's oldest pub (a claim some cynics dispute, although a framed certificate from Guinness World Records says otherwise)