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on the Pub Forum
Image posted by john mcgraw
Submitted on Wednesday, 16th April 2014
With picture contributions to 21062 other pubs
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Detail Pages
Firefly, Balham, SW12
SW12
SW12 9AZ
Served areas
Firefly Balham
Footballs coming home #WorldCup2022 https://t.co/Juj4wwOf1S
5:56 PM Nov 17th 2022 from Twitter for iPhone
Reviews of Firefly (Average Rating: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Firefly
This is a slightly dark and dinghy, shop-style pub that mixes craft beer bar with Thai restaurant to modest effect. Folding front doors open out to a small pavement seating area, packed full of noisy locals on our mid-week visit. The interior is bare boarded and furnished with tatty small square tables and metal framed chairs plus a plush button backed banquette down the left-hand wall. The bar appears a little further down this side of the room, and has a nice curved wood panel counter front and understated back-lit bar back. The room narrows a lot as you pass the bar, with a few high tables and chairs squeezed in opposite, before opening out again to the rear, beneath a back wall with a large brewing mural across it. The room is decorated with lots of fancy lampshades, asinine slogans painted across ceiling beams, and a mix of plain painted and tongue and groove panelled walls. A decent alternative rock soundtrack was buzzing away in the background and the friendly staff were doling out tasty Thai food at reasonable prices, which we happily partook in.
On the beer front, one handpull was taken out of action as we arrived, leaving Dark Star Hophead as the lone cask option. However, there were around fourteen craft keg taps to go at, with beers from the likes of Deya, Old Street and The Kernel as well as continental offerings from Lervig, Paulaner and others. The Hophead was in slightly subpar condition, but still worked well enough with my Thai curry.
I think I like the idea of this place more than the reality of it, as the combination of craft beer in a micropub-style room, with tasty Thai food on the side sounds like a winning combination, but we found the place to be quite gloomy, the beer of dubious quality and a strange atmosphere thanks to the noisy locals. I’m glad we visited, but I can’t see me racing back here again.
On 22nd November 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about Firefly
Room to front and outside seating, Bar to left middle and a back room. Six craft ales, some of decent strength. Other keg items. Couldn't see any real ale. Not a bad place just down from the tube station.
On 28th August 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Firefly
I was told that they have one real ale on from the Sambrook's range - when I was in on Monday evening it was Wandle, at a fairly reasonable £3.75 a pint. Although this is the only real ale on, they have loads of "craft" keg beers, from the likes of Kernel, London Fields and By the Horns breweries, as well as a keg version (I've only ever seen it in bottles) of the quite hoppy US Red Hook Longhammer. They have an extensive range of bottled beers as well. Although I'm not a great fan of "craft" beers, they do have a reasonable selection of them in here. The lone handpump is not immediately apparent, as for some reason it doesn't have pride of place on the counter, but is consigned to peeping out from within the forest of keg fonts. Food is Thai, and is reasonably priced with stir fries, including rice, between £7 - £8.
This is a shop conversion bar so there's nothing of great interest inside. There are some basic tables and chairs in the front part of the room, including one or two at the front on the pavement, and at the back part of the room there a handful of sofas and armchairs. The bar counter has a basket of lemons, and jars of nuts on it in the gastropub way, although this is by no means a gastropub.
This bar is for you if you're a fan of so-called craft beers. The range is impressive if not cheap. A pint of the Kernel Porter is £5.60, but maybe the pint of 5.9% Red Hook Longhammer is a fair bet at £4.95 a pint. I'm not likely to pay a return visit unless I've a hankering for some "craft" stuff.
On 3rd April 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
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- Official site of Firefly - www.fireflybar.co.uk
- Facebook - Firefly Bar
- Twitter - Firefly Balham
- CAMRA WhatPub :: Firefly - whatpub.com
Wandsworth Common, 0.59 miles, 11 min walk (show)
Streatham Hill, 1.32 miles, 25 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Beer Garden : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Car Park : No last updated 04 April 2014 by Rex Rattus
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Darts : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Function Room : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 04 April 2014 by Rex Rattus
- Jukebox : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Karaoke : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Live TV Sports : Yes last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Micropub : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Pinball : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Pool Table : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 03 April 2014 by hondo .
- Real Cider : No last updated 22 November 2022 by Pub SignMan
