A heavy duty pneumatic tire comprises a pair of bead portions with a bead toe, a bead core disposed in each bead portion, a carcass comprising at least one ply of cords extending between the bead portions and turned up around the bead cores, an inner liner made of an airtight rubber compound disposed inside the carcass along the inner surface of the tire, the inner liner extending from one of the bead portion to the other and terminating before the bead toe, a chafer made of a hard rubber compound disposed in each bead portion along the bead base, the chafer extending axially inwardly to the bead toe, and an adhesiveness improvement rubber layer disposed between inner liner and chafer.