Firefly, Balham, SW12

This is a shop conversion bar/restaurant, loosely set out cafe style . Two handpumps on the bar counter were drawing two beers from Redemption, Trinity and a very good Pale Ale, fifteen keg taps were offering a choice of good standard craft beers mixed in with some German stuff. All in all I found it a decent place.

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.

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.

Official site of Firefly - www.fireflybar.co.uk

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.

Official site of Firefly - www.fireflybar.co.uk