The Skinners Arms — Restaurant in London

Staying around the corner at the Premier inn, we went looking to find a London pub, that would match our expectations. Coming from Liverpool, we have fab boozers in abundance and it would be a hard thing to match them, but the Skinners Arms had no trouble doing it.

The first thing I noticed, it was a drinkers pub, that offered food if need be. The manager, Brendan was on the ball, knowing who was next to be served and nodding to acknowledge your arrival.

Being a Barman in the 1970's. The art of being a barman, I thought was long gone. Most of the time now, you just get the deadpan stare of the bar worker, who would rather be anywhere else, than serving customers. Well, when I say wanting to be any where else, I meant a phone zombie!

Brendan was on my case as soon as he'd finished his previous customer, with a friendly smile and greeted me like I was a regular. I ordered drinks, Cruzcampo for me and a wine and soda for my wife, and they were very reasonably priced at £12, not bad for a central London pub.

Anyway, the drinks were going down well, the Cruzcampo was spot on and it was time to order something to eat, I can't drink lager and have a meal, so I opted for a couple of bar snacks, I had cheesy chips with bacon and my wife had cheesy chips. We thought, stupidly, that it may not be enough, so we ordered onion rings as well. Big mistake!

Our food arrived about ten minutes later, piping hot and the serving would have probably have been enough for three, maybe four. Well, having been brought up to not leave anything on my plate, I gave it a go, but failing miserably.

I think we received a full fresh onion covered in batter. My cheesy bacon chips had at least three rashers of bacon and 100 gms of mature cheese on them. My wife had similar. The chips were crisp and hot, I could not fault the food.

Anyway, if you've travelled to London and you're looking for a pub that's full of character, that welcomes conversation and does not have a jukebox or fruit machines blaring out, the Skinners Arms is the place to be. The great, reasonably priced food and Brendan the friendly manager, is the...

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WE ALWAYS GIVE 5s AS ALL PUBS ARE DIFFERENT AND GREAT

CONTEXT Early after work jaunt, 3.30pm - 6ish.

ATMOSPHERE Very quiet on arrival, where i enjoyed chatting to bar staff Megan. It very quickly over the next few hours built its clientele up. From your lager toppers to your beer officianados, the post work atmosphere is a classic here of all ages.

SERVICE Fabulous, as mentioned, Megan was awesome, as were the staff who came on after chatting beer and clearly enjoying their shift (as much as you can enjoy working 🙂)

STYLE Gorgeous, 19th century pub, with tvs on silent, playing bbc news, but will then switch to sport when its on. Great old school decour and furniture. Good space, plenty outdoor seating, classic after work boozer.

TOILET Similar to above, clean, but with decoration needed, it didnt bother me. Obviously only speaking from a male point of view, they were plentiful, some holes in the wall, but i was happy.

PRICE London....cask was london £5.50 for a pint, Keg was more £6.65 for Wolkpack lager

FOOD & DRINK Great range of beer, 6 casks, around 6 kegs, got your rubbish like Carling, plis Camden hells and brewdog. Didnt eat but the food menu looked exciting and perving on others looked great too for central...

Great first impressions but left insulted and disappointed.

My friends and I walked past the place a few weeks ago and decided to go back pay a visit. Lovely decor inside and we chose a window table. The bar woman kindly offered to bring our drinks to us as the barrel needed changing. I'm afraid the positive experience ended there.

A man who I imagine was the manager (stocky, grey haired, in his 50s) came to our table and told us we couldn't sit there as it was reserved. My friend asked 'Oh is it?' and he said 'Yes, can't you read the sign right in front of you?' in the most unpleasant and confrontational manner. Without reply, we stood up to move. He said, 'And I see you bought your own nuts with you into the pub. Very naughty.' He was referring to a small bag I had bought that afternoon from which I'd about 5 nuts!

For the rest of the time it took us to finish our drinks and get out of the pub, the reserved window table remained empty - the group who had booked it turned up about 40 minutes later.

When our third friend joined us we exited quickly and moved on to a much more friendly and welcoming pub - the Holborn Whippet.

Needless to say, we won't...