We present a genome assembly from an individual male Barbus barbus (the barbel; Chordata; Actinopteri; Cypriniformes; Cyprinidae). The genome sequence is 1,584.9 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 50 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 16.6 kilobases in length.