Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Skindles, Poperinghe


damiangt

Recommended Posts

I haven't been able to find a thread about Skindles and wondered if any pals had any information or anecdotes about the place?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Skindles is a former "mess" for officiers at Poperinge during the first war.

It was a house of the family Renynghe deVoxvrie 17 th century;

The hotel is named after a officer who had a hotel in London at that time. Skindles

Marnik

post-11745-1151852494.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A receipt from my archive, possibly just post war, when my great grandparents made the trip to the grave of their lost son...

post-12665-1152045661.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lovely material, thank you. Somewhere on this site is a shot of Skindles taken c. 1980 by me, with hotel name painted on lowest courses of bricks under windows. Will dig out if there is demand for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A very interesting thread folks - thank you. Further info or photos would be great so keep it coming!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The author Henry Williamson, who served throughout the war, wrote a book about his return to the battlefields called The Wet Flanders Plain (1929). In it there is a chapter entitled 'Skindles' and here he states (and you have to be a little careful with H.W. because the boundaries between fact and fiction can often be blurred) that the name dates from 1916 when a British officer, enjoying his meal, declared the place to be just as good as Skindles at Maidenhead and the name stuck. The popular daughter of the house was called Zoe.

Now, he then states that at the end of the war the little estaminet reverted to its usual name of 'Hotel de la Bourse du Houblon something or other' and that on going there after the war the usual egg & chips were no longer available. Enquirers after such exotic fare were shown to the new Hotel Skindles up the street which was formerly the Officers' Club. There is yet another Skindles in Ypres, opposite the railway station.

Confusing - ain't it? :P

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some support for Henry Williamson's version of events - in 'A Short Guide to the Battlefields' by J.O. Coop (1920) it states that 'leading out of the square towards Proven is the little street in which were the famous restaurants known as Skindle's and Cyril's, the Officers' Club, Talbot House and the best known shops. Skindle's has now moved to what was the old Officers' Club, and may be recommended as providing excellent and not unduly expensive accommodation. Cyril's restaurant was struck by a shell in 1918 and the proprietor and his family were killed.'

Cheers,

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the black and white photos (not the one that dates from the 1950s) which show the rest of the street upon which skindles is on, is that Talbot House (Toc H) in the background? It appears to be and if it is I must have walked past Skindles a fair few times and been completely oblivious as to what the building actually used to be. :huh:

JGM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed JGM Skindles and Talbot House are in the same street , N° 57 and N°43 Gasthuisstraat.

Regards,

Marnik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now to see the pretty park ... a very nice place to have a coffee, a beer or ... last but not least ... a cream de menthe

0937035124165bw.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What? No pics of the original Skindles?? :ph34r::D

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

<_< I work up the road from the 'Skindles' in Maidenhead, if anyone would like me to post a photo of the 'original' Skindles I gladly will, unfortunately it has lain derelict for about 12 years now but still an imposing building

Mick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are two pictures of the "real" Skindles in Poperinge, before the name moved to the officer's club further down the road.

Skindles was the hotel called "A la Bourse du Houblon", 16 Rue de l'Hopital*, which was the property of the widow Bentin. I understand that the building is now the Apotheek Ketelijn (perhaps someone local can confirm that?). *Hoppebeurs, 16 Gasthuisstraat.

The pics are from the fantastic book about Pop during the war, "De oorlog achter het front", by Ch. Depoorter, S. Cossey and W. Tillie, published by de Kring voor Heemkunde "Aan de Schreve", 1999 (I think). I hope the authors will forgive me scanning the pics for the forum.

skindles1.JPG

skindles2.JPG

And while we are on this subject, does anyone have any pics of "Cyrils", another such establishment on Gasthuisstraat, destroyed on 23 March 1918?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't find a picture of Cyril's. I assume that you have read Tubby Clayton's description of its demise.

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...