Part of Antic collective of pubs, The Balham Bowls Club and Hagen & Hyde are two of the coolest (possibly the two coolest) pubs in the area around Balham. This is an area with a lot of different pubs and a lot of pubs coming and going from the scene, so saying they’re two of the best is not damning with faint praise in this instance.
Of the two, the Balham Bowls Club (known locally as the BBC) is the more stylish and interesting. Once the clubhouse for a bowls club, hidden just around the corner from Balham High Road, the BBC retains a large amount of its original décor, sporting memorabilia and quirky trinkets. It attracts a mixed crowd of different ages and backgrounds and its simple, slightly ramshackle but cosy charm makes it a real local favourite. The pub has recently been given a Time Out We Love London award and regularly features on top lists of London pubs, including once bizarrely featuring in the EasyJet in flight catalogue.
Just around the corner, on Balham High Road, Hagen & Hyde is similarly decorated but, due to a less fortunate past – the pub was previously the dismal Blithe Spirit – the furniture, although still recycled, has been brought in from elsewhere leaving a less authentic feel to things. It’s still trendy enough and attracts a similar crowd, getting particularly busy at weekends when they have live music and DJs. Both pubs have good food and an interesting, rotating selection of lagers, craft beer and real ales. Hagen & Hyde probably edges it in having a more diverse range of drinks but the BBC is the more stylish of the two.
However, in terms of access Hagen & Hyde outperforms its more stylish neighbour by virtue of having a disabled toilet in the pub. There is no adapted toilet at the Balham Bowls Club and their toilets are all down a flight of stairs (actually, there are also some toilets up another flight of stairs). Other than that both venues have similar positives and negatives for disabled customers. Access from street level at both is pretty good. Both have double sets of swinging doors to negotiate and both could do with a slightly smoother path inwards – the Hagen & Hyde entrance has a small but steep ramp.
Inside the main areas of both pubs are flat with wooden flooring. But both pubs have areas upstairs and downstairs with no lifts to get to them. This is less of a problem at the BBC where the large room upstairs is normally not in use and only really fills up for events and the downstairs only contains the aforementioned unadapted toilets. The Hagen & Hyde dining area is upstairs but they can serve you on the ground floor. There is another area downstairs (there are five or so steps) where they have live music at weekends and this is not easily accessible. Being on the main road parking may also be a bigger problem at Hagen & Hyde.
These two Antic pubs are trendy and popular. Both are accessible but with limits. We give Hagen & Hyde 2 BBS Ticks and the Balham Bowls Club an unfortunate 1.5 BBS Ticks.