Pelt Trader, Cannon Street, EC4

A rather basic drinking den that I found to be rather lacking in any ambiance, I guess it's all about the beer and there were 7 cask beers and a good number of craft keg, I went for one of these , Burning Sky Arise at £5.00 a pint, some decent beers here but it all left me a little cold, the Euston Taps amongst other places do this sort of thing better, I would try it here again if nearby but wouldn't make a special trip.

The Pelt Trader is a modern bar which is situated at the side of Cannon Street station. Once inside there is a single oblong shaped room with the bar to the rear,the floor looks like concrete,the seating is tall tables and and chairs and tall bench seating,there is a canoe hanging above the middle of the room. There is a decent choice of real ales n the bar and craft keg beers for those who like it,i had a drink of Burning Sky Plateau which went down very well,the other real ales i noted were Kent KGB,Hastings Pale Ale,Dark Star Victorian Ruby Mild,there were a couple more i failed to note. Decent background music was playing on my Tuesday dinner visit,the pub was also empty as i did it before the dinner time rush. Not really my sort of pub,but the beer was nice. Pub visited 26/5/2015

Set into one of the arches underneath the Cannon Street station platforms, this bar was opened in the summer of 2013 by the people behind Holborn Whippet and Euston Tap with the promise of bringing craft beer to the Square Mile. It's an unusual space in which to build a bar, located down two steps into a roughly square shaped room with a subterranean feel to it, despite plenty of light entering through the front archway. The room has a bare concrete floor, whitewashed brick walls and an inevitably high ceiling with a canoe suspended from it, as a nod towards the vague hunting theme within (the Skinner's Hall is located opposite). A square modern servery stands on the back wall with a 'Euston Tap' style row of taps on the bar back. Rows of protruding ledges run down either side supplemented by high stools, whilst there are some banquettes at the front of the room and plenty of standing room in between. The walls have been decorated with some Pelt Trader mirrors and one or two pelts, but the whole themed approach feels a bit half hearted and the place looks a bit bare. Disco music played throughout my stay but it was very hard to hear due to the echo of voices booming through the room. An adjacent arch houses the toilets and kitchen in a space that has been broken up in rather slapdash fashion using rough, exposed blockwork and flimsy partitioning screens. There is a long row of cask taps on the bar back, promising a varied selection, but as with previous visitors, I found just the one ale (Adnams Mayday) available, which was a great disappointment. The keg selection didn't look that much healthier to be honest, although this could be the result of the confusing, messy system of detailing the available brews using blackboards mounted above the taps. I opted for a half of the Kernel Pale (£5.40 a pint) which wasn't great. Other keg options included Camden Wit and Adnams Mosaic. This was a disappointing visit, not only for the lacking range of beer but also the rather soulless interior. I wonder if the demand for craft beer in the city is considerably lower than anticipated when opening this venture, as the restricted ale choice suggests throughput issues. I'd probably pop in if passing to see if there was something interesting on, but I wouldn't make the effort to specifically return here.

A large square bar confronts you after entering the Pelt Trader; adorning the wall behind are a range of taps dispensing ale & craft keg in a style familiar to patrons of the Euston Tap or Holborn Whippet, each accompanied by a mini blackboard advising name & brewer, price and ABV. I tried to count and came up with 8 or so ale taps and about 16 or so for lager and craft. The bar offers a good selection from some of London's new micros, such as Kernel, Brew By Numbers, Redemption and Camden and at fairly reasonable prices (£3.60 - £4.00 a pint or so). The keg beers are a little pricier, as I'm sure you'll be expecting if you've been keeping up with the scene, but still cheaper than many similar outlets. I tried a selection from across the range and really can't complain. The room however, could hardly be more charmless. The glass door and neon sign facing Dowgate Hill give no hint of the barren interior, with a number of narrow tables and high stools arranged around the perimeter as well a single alcove nearer the door. The walls are principally 'decorated' with electric cables, sometimes hidden in aluminium ducting, often not. Oh, and there's a canoe hanging from the ceiling. If you're confined to a wheelchair, you won't be coming here: down 3 or so steps to get in and up & down a similar number if you're visiting the toilets which appear to be in an adjacent archway. Given the crowds and money passing through, there must be scope for a good 'craft beer' bar within the City. The Pelt Trader however isn't it. As this isn't an area I'm usually around, I'm not so bothered. If, however, I worked in the area, I think I'd be rather disappointed overall.

A previous reviewer comments “The bar is only open Monday to Friday, which can lead to a restricted ale choice if drinking in here on a Friday evening.” Well let me assure you this place suffers from restrictive ale choice any evening of the week if my recent Wednesday and Thursday evening visits are anything to go by. Four people last night working the square serving area which fronts the back aluminium wall festooned with all the beer taps, but it was all they could do to keep up with serving those waiting and rescuing glasses so that they had something to put beer in. Consequently there was no effort being made to replace the barrels as they run out and by 8.00PM late night there was only ales at 3% or above 6% on unless you wanted craft lagers, forcing a move on earlier than anticipated. Well described by previous reviewers, this is a soul less place with terrible acoustics that hanging a canoe from the ceiling can’t really impart any character into, and frankly wouldn’t get a second look if it wasn’t for the fact that Dowgate Hill outside is largely a pedestrianized thoroughfare allowing a decent alfresco space and the beers are very good and reasonably priced as mentioned below. Included in the real ale offerings last night were Adnams Old Ale and Trinity and Fellowship from the Redemption Brewery and all were well kept. A good use of train archway space and worth popping in to see what is on if passing but not a Craft Ale destination venue like some of the other recent additions to the London drinking scene IMHO.