Ruskins, Kendal

An upstairs bar accessed by a doorway and staircase from Smokehouse Yard. There are two rooms of wildly different character. To the rear is a type of sports bar with pool tables and loud bouncy music. In the front bar, which has an attractive bay window overlooking the high street, it's much more laid back, with a different soundtrack to go with the rather eclectic furniture and the frankly weird paintings that adorn the walls. (The music appears to come from a juke box on random play.) Hawkshead Bitter and Bowness Bay Swallow Gold are available on both bar counters, at a reasonable £3.10 a pint. I'm not sure that I would want to come here again, but then again Kendal's pubs are an odd lot and it's hard to get really enthusiastic about any of them, with the possible exception of the Ring O'Bells, so I can't entirely rule out a repeat visit. Date of visit: 28th May 2016

Official site of Ruskins Cafe Bar - www.ruskinsbar.com

Official site of Ruskins Cafe Bar - www.ruskinsbar.com