The Ferndale, SW9

Originally opened in September 2017 as the Canova Hall, this was the second outlet for the then small independent Urban pubs and bars chain, which has now expanded to over 65 establishments across London, primarily in areas which have seen gentrification in recent years, such as Highbury and Islington, Balham and Shoreditch for example. It was originally more of a restaurant and cocktail bar as the previous reviewer found, but underwent a revamp in April this year when it was renamed as The Ferndale and rebranded as a “proper local pub with fantastic pizzas, select wines, cocktails, beers and more”, the more seeming to be large screens for the premier league, and DJ sets on a Friday and Saturday night that go on to 1am. The thing that initially attracted me to this one is the fine historic building in which it is housed. “The Department Store” sign that is still in situ on the front apex gives you some clue that it was originally built as accommodation for staff of the department store Bon Marche across the road ( the building of which still exists but now in use as a business centre), one of the three elegant department stores that in the 1900’s used to earn Brixton the reputation as the Oxford Street of the South, of which only Morley’s is still in operation today. It would have been a very opulent building internally when first built, with tons of period features and decorations. Unfortunately they are all long gone and the Ferndale is what you would expect from a modern bar, large floor to ceiling windows, shiny concrete floor, a central oval bar with burgundy coloured padded seating option rotating round it, and a Brewdog style exposed air conditioning ceiling, but fortunately all painted black and nowhere near as industrial and ugly as the Brewdog bars. The few existing wall spaces are covered in picture collections that try to give the place a bit of character and the chandelier lighting tries to transport you to a former time, but there is no hiding that this is a modern bar aimed at the modern demographic that both visit and call Brixton their home nowadays. No ales of course but a few decent craft keg options that are slanted towards The Brixton Brewery due to its location and I did even see a Brixton tap takeover advertised for a weeks time if they didn’t already have enough. Now I am fully aware that I have not been the target demographic for the Urban Pubs and Bars chain for at least the last couple of decades, but I can still appreciate what they are doing to their venues, as I did when finding them in Balham recently. But I think that those who do fall into the target demographic will continue to appreciate this one.

Official site of The Ferndale - www.urbanpubsandbars.com

Official site of The Ferndale - www.urbanpubsandbars.com

Larger-than-it-initially-looks modern bar / restaurant on a wedge-shaped corner plot. Very busy on a Friday night and quite difficult to: a) get in (having failed earlier when the World Cup football was on; and b) get served. However, once close enough to the counter, five draught beers were apparently available, most or all of which come from the local Brixton Brewery. Of course, my Reliance pale ale was outrageously priced at £6.20, even before the 12.5% service charge they tried to add on...