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The Cyclist, Balham, SW12

194 Balham High Road
SW12
SW12 9BP

Phone: 02086730535

Correct details

Served areas

Balham

Tweets by The Cyclist

The Cyclist We’re buzzing inside and out today! Join us for lunch, dinner or a few drinks on the terrace... 1:26 PM May 22nd 2019 from Twitter Web Client

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Reviews of The Cyclist (Average Rating: 4½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Steve of N21 left this review about The Cyclist

For those of us of a certain age who were brought up in North London, our image of Balham is forever clouded by the Peter Sellers early 70’s excellent spoof travel documentary, “Balham, Gateway to the South”, as an area to be feared and best avoided.
But the gentrification that started creeping down the Northern line in the early 2000’s and really started to accelerate from 2010 onwards with the influx of the young, upwardly mobile, has changed the place from all recognition from the Balham of my youth, and nothing epitomises that more than this place.
This is a former LEB showroom ( youngsters will have to Google that acronym) and spent time as a camping and sports equipment shop for a period I believe, before being converted into one of the first original ‘Moon under Water’ Wetherspoons in 1993. Reviews below show it wasn’t a particularly good one and served more as a social and community hub for the elder demographic clinging on in the area, until 2018 when Mullet Man saw the writing on the wall and pulled the plug on it.
What we have now is a self-styled ‘modern British pub’, which has all the hipster trappings you could wish for. No ale of course, but copious adverts for craft beers, small-batch gins and artisan wines. The Wetherspoons laminated card of microwaved delights has been replaced by a vegan-friendly menu and gastropub classics. Pig’s cheeks with peas and ‘nduja or spiced aubergine with coconut yoghurt anyone? Or perhaps the Daily special of chorizo with harissa-spiced chickpea purée is more your thing.
I ventured in here as it is now run by the Urban Pubs and Bars Group and I don’t tend to mind their places, despite no longer being the target demographic for their modern interiors, but I really didn’t warm to this one. With the interior well described by the previous reviewers I was getting more modern kitchen and bar than any decent pub vibe and will also agree that the available craft selection is quite pedestrian, even compared to some of their other nearby outlets. It was attracting a fair few of the target demographic, but it didn’t attract me and I soon moved on to some of their other nearby more traditional pubs that still exist in this part of town.

On 6^th December 2025 - rating: 4
[User has posted 2315 recommendations about 2166 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Bucking Fastard left this review about The Cyclist

Described outside as a " modern pub" this shop conversion has a lot of exterior seating to the front with dubious views of Balham High Road.Inside is L shaped with lots of high tables infront of the bar,industrial ducting on the ceiling and a very long high bench seat running down the right wall with a series of two seater tables.Beyond a small open kitchen is a laid for dining area,a mix of small banquettes and low backed seating booths in modern colours.Parquet flooring throughout but I was expecting more decoration on the cyclist theme rather than just a few nods in that general direction.
The muzak was hip and the food menu offered modern cuisine with a few lunch deals around £13,otherwise a median main of £17.At the bar no real ale just 10 keg taps with some craft options(Signature Brew,Brixton) some mainstream choices and all a bit pedestrian and safe.My Brixton Atlantic APA was far too cold to properly enjoy the strength and hop depth.
It's aimed at the younger drinker and no doubt the Saturday DJ draws that sort of crowd but on my Friday lunctime visit there was a motley assortment of middle aged Guiness drinkers,young couples,single women eating tofu and a pub ticker .I wont be rushing back.

On 4^th May 2024 - rating: 5
[User has posted 3076 recommendations about 3076 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Pub SignMan left this review about The Cyclist

Previously a branch of Wetherspoons, this is now a large, open plan bar and eatery with the kind of nondescript, everyman decor that will suit young cocktail drinkers and older coffee sippers in equal measure. The room has a nice parquet floor, whitewashed brick walls and a ceiling almost entirely obscured by ugly utilities. The bar is to the rear left and has a very plain wood panelled counter, painted in gastro-grey, in front of a sparkly mirrored bar back. There are loads of tables and chairs in the front part of the room, some spilling out through the bi-fold doors onto a pavement-side space, whilst padded banquette booths run down the right-hand wall, each with an unusual partitioning screen between. The room opens out down this side of the room into what felt like a rear dining area full of basic tables and chairs. There are loads of pictures on the walls, with an overarching cycling theme, whilst sprigs of flowers on each table added some colour and a few decorative lampshades, that looked a bit like tatty skirts, brought the visual distraction. A dull ambient-chill soundtrack played in the background throughout our stay.
Unfortunately, there's no cask ale here, although six craft kegs from the likes of Camden, Two Tribes and Beavertown ensure a bit of variety to the selection. The friendly Irish barman served up a passable pint of Little Creatures Pale Ale and we enjoyed sitting out on the pavement watching people rushing to and from the nearby station.
I thought this was a pretty run of the mill pub, straddling the line between an old-school drinking barn and a contemporary mass-appeal bar. The presence of some real ale would have been an added bonus and I left here expecting to have pretty much forgotten about the place within a week or two and would suggest it probably did a better job when it was a ‘Spoons.

On 22^nd November 2022 - rating: 4
[User has posted 3387 recommendations about 3387 pubs]

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