The Grove, Balham, SW12

Grove page at the Youngs site - www.youngs.co.uk

Official site of the Grove - www.grovebalham.com

Grove page at the Youngs site - www.youngs.co.uk

A splendid-looking Youngs pub from the outside. The interior looks to have been remodeled at various times over the years and struck me as being a bit bare and rattly, despite the comfy sofas. The latest incarnation seems to be aimed squarely at the recently-arrived neuvau riche of Balham, with the emphasis very much on food (peppered squid, dahling?) with a colour scheme consisting of various shades of brown. Which wouldn’t be so bad but the beer was terrible and stupidly overpriced – it takes really poor management to make Winter Warmer taste as terrible as what I was served. Service behind the bar was sloppy as well. Won’t be heading back anytime soon.

This is a backstreet Young’s pub, with the usual Young’s range plus Sambrook’s Wandle of course. They are about to commence a “beer festival” whereby two guest ales are introduced for a couple of weeks. The ales chosen by The Grove are Young’s Ramrod and Black Sheep Bitter. This is yet another largely madeover Young’s pub that would have been a traditional boozer used by locals at some stage. I suppose it may still be used as a local by some (there were no customers in there at 1400 on a Wednesday) but it doesn’t really feel like one. There’s the usual mix of seating in the main bar area – tall tables/stools; normal tables and solid wood tables; but prominence seems to be given over to sofas, including some lodged in “alcoves” around to the left of the pub. At the back on the left is a largish area that looks as if it is intended as a dining area. The music being played was something of a mixed bag, including some soft jazz piano, to some Motown classics played a bit too loudly to be regarded as background music. The menu indicates clearly the importance of food to this place, with some fairly basic items being fairly expensive by pub standards – e.g. Steak & Ale Pie & Mash at £11.00, and Bangers and Mash at £9.95. A ham sarny was £5. By contrast, a blackboard behind the bar advertised snacks such as pasties, pork pies, and sausage rolls all at £2.65 a throw. This might be good value, but rather depends on the size of the snack. An old CAMRA booklet that I saw said that this pub has a convivial public bar where the game of dominoes is played – not the case now I’m afraid, and the public bar is long gone. It’s by no means now a cosy backstreet boozer, but its upmarket aspirations have not ruined it as a pub, and despite its more modern makeover it’s still a reasonably comfortable place to stop off for a pint.