Nightingale, Balham

pub details:

print this

tell your friends:

location:

Balham

address:

97 Nightingale Lane, SW12 8NX

phone:

0871 258 7616*
* calls cost 10p/minute, click here for more about 0871 numbers.

nearest stations:

Wandsworth Common railway station
(600m)

Clapham South London Underground station
(710m) - zones 2/3

Balham railway station London Underground station
(860m) - zone 3

how to find it:

Clapham South: Turn left on leaving the tube along Nightingale Lane and keep walking should take about 10-15 minutes. Wandsworth Common BR station: Head up onto Nightingale Lane and turn right, away from the Common and up past the junction with Bolingbroke Grove and Ravenslea Road

click for directions to Nightingale from wherever you are

click here for a larger map

Street View - click to see the area around the Nightingale

When an area gentrifies there's usually an impact on the local pubs. Round these parts the rise in house prices has seen pubs remodelling themselves with lounge style interiors, or, as in the case of the Surrey Tavern, being shut down to make way for luxury flats. For remaining true to its boozer roots then, this Nightingale is indeed a rare bird. Devotees of gastropubs won't be stepping foot over the threshold until there's at least one lunchtime option featuring balsamic vinegar; the rest of us will make do with a pub that plays to the traditional pleasures of good beer, bantering locals and an atmosphere conducive to knocking a few back. And given the pub is big on collecting for charity (photos of all the Guide Dogs the pub has raised money for take up a whole wall) the punters seem a decent lot as well. All in all, a fine little pub.

reviewed:
28/09/2008