Skinners Arms, WC1

The Skinners Arms is a nice looking corner pub that is quite close to St Pancrass Station,this is one of the few pubs in this area of London that has eluded me for quite a few years. Once inside there is a single oblong shaped room with the bar on the right side,there is a raised area to the left,the seating is mainly normal tables and chairs,the room is carpeted and looked quite smart in my opinion. There were four real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Vale Best bitter which went down well,the other beers i noted were GK IPA and a beer from Longship. This was a very pleasant pub to end my pub crawl in. Pub visited 2/8/2014

This pub may well be independently owned as John says, but the link to Greene King runs very deep with the trademark GK plaque on the outside wall near the door, and of course both Abbot and GKIPA were on during my visit. The Skinners is one of the great twelve livery companies, and manages an estate around the area of this pub on behalf of Judd School in Tonbridge – hence the name of this pub. Although I didn’t see any food or menus when I was in at around 3.0 PM on Wednesday, I’m sure they do food as condiments and cutlery were languishing at one end of the bar counter. This is another Victorian corner site pub. Doors are still signed to the public bar and saloon bar (now unused) but of course it’s been completely opened up now of course. But it’s fairly comfortable inside, being carpeted throughout and furnished with normal chairs, small round metal-framed tables and plenty of small stools. It’s been extended a bit at the back, making it a larger pub than it looks from the outside. The walls are covered with miscellaneous prints. As well as the GK offerings, they also had on a couple of guest ales – Robinson’s Enigma and O’Hanlon’s Firefly. This is a decent enough pub in which to stop for a pint or two, although the main negative point for me was the banal pop music being played at louder than background levels. The presence of two guest ales ranks it a notch or two above the majority of GK pubs. I would visit again if I was passing.

Situated close to Kings Cross St Pancras Station down a side street is The Skinners Arms, an attractive looking street corner pub. It’s a largish comfortably furnished and carpeted pub, with much dark wood and a long single bar. A cosy snug like corner at the far end of the pub contains a framed print telling us that The Skinners Livery Company obtained its Royal Charter from Edward III in 1327, although it’s not clear whether there’s any connection with the pub, aside from the name. The pub retains some original features and some attractive looking coloured stained glass tells us that this was originally a multi room pub with separate entrances. The 2011 CAMRA Good Beer Guide, in which this pub is listed , tells us that the pub is “independently owned, although Greene King products can predominate”. Well they’re not kidding ! On my 2 recent visits, only Greene King IPA and Abbott have been on, with other real ales conspicuous by their absence. Notably, on the second of the two visits, the guest beers blackboard was blank, from which I deduced that no guest beer was imminent. I quite like this pub as a pub in that it’s cosy, comfortable and more welcoming that some other pubs in the immediate vicinity, but until management start to show more initiative on the real ale front, I don’t feel inclined to revisit any time soon