pratting-ken, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pratting-ken n.

[prat n.¹ (1) + ken n.¹ (1), i.e. a place one can rest one’s buttocks]

a cheap lodging house.

1891

F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 407: The houses consisting [...] of the lowest class of pratting-kens, where lodgings might be obtained for the moderate charge of threepence a night.