Wetherspoons and balham bowls club

You'd think wetherspoons could make chips but unfortunately no. They make crap chips at least in the Wetherspoons I go.They are Gate House Highgate, The liberty Bounds, The Coronet (bit better here) plus one near the Monument. They are all crap chips. You do get a good pint though at a great price.I wrote to them but no reply. they are going to go away if their management teams don't get hold of things.Also some really crap food lately, a curry I had in the Gate house at Highgate cost a fiver it was worth 2,00.Expensive then so don't turn round saying where can you get a curry for two fifty.
The epitome of quirky vintage, the Balham Bowls Club has a long history that is smartly revisited to produce a cool venue, almost too bizarre for its own good - almost.




The Venue

Balham Bowls Club is steeped in history, enjoying a previous incarnation as a members only bowling club. Now a pub, it has retained most of its original fixtures including a sign declaring all visitors must sign in, left over from its days as a members club. It's now open to all. This bar has all the dusty allure of an old aunt’s house. Every bizarre decorative element, like the standing birdcage or the framed pair of shoes, look to be straight out of a charity shop and this familiar, quirky, ultimately ironic landscape is what makes Balham Bowls Club unique and fun to be in.



Grandma couches, a fireplace and Seventies wallpaper complete the lot, together with two large snooker tables lit by faded professional lights. If it gets a bit too much for the eyes, you can still sit outdoors with a choice of a few mismatched tables towards the road or a messy but wide back garden.



The Atmosphere

Balham Bowls Club is a predictable local favourite and you will find it very busy on weekends, which means a long queue to be served at the only bar where, unfortunately, you also order your food. However, the friendly and efficient service ensures food is delivered quickly, even on busy evenings.



You’ll find people of all ages here with peaks around the twenty-to-thirtysomethings. The atmosphere is beautifully informal and you’ll even find a polite dog giving you a long pleading stare once your food is laid on the table.



The Food

The menu at Balham Bowls Club is a love it or hate it affair: the idea is to serve well presented global tapas, getting rid of main courses. If you’re starving, with most dishes priced at £5-£6, expect to pay out as you'll need at least three items to stop hearing your stomach rumble.



If dinner is not what you have in mind, however, the food at Balham Bowls Club is actually rather good: fresh and eclectic with unexpected options like field duck eggs with black truffle, chargrilled squid with lemon and oil, or calves liver with balsamic onion and pancetta. Alternatively, you can order from the very cheap bar menu (75p-£3.75), offering small portions of traditional pub favourites like Cornish pasty, mini sausage rolls, pork pie, or lamb burger in a bun.



The Drink

You have less than ten wines to choose from, a symptom that Balham Bowls Club wants to be a back-to-basics pub despite the interesting design and peculiar food menu. For whites and reds (£13.50-£16 per bottle with large and small glasses available), the choice is between the classics from the usual countries: Spanish Tempranillo and Chardonnay, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, Australian Shiraz, Italian Pinot Grigio and - a potential bargain - a French Bordeaux Superieur for only £16.



Beer wise, there are a few highlights: Grolsch Weizen, Amstel, Soulfrod Press Cider, Becks. None of them are really cheap though, with most pints in the £3.20-£3.50 range.



The Last Word

Bizarre as much as it is fun, Balham Bowls Club is entertaining enough to make you remember your night out with a smile: you'll feel like you’ve just set foot in a Wes Anderson movie! There's nothing finer, in the mind of TS, to help you wind down after a hard day's work (well a day's work anyway) than a pint of ale and a packet of shag.









wetherspoons
Smoking and drinking go together like strawberries and cream, although TS wouldn't suggest adding that the mix as well. Even better, we're helping ease the tax burden of the nation, given that a large proportion of the money we shell out goes to the government.









But, like millions of others, TS reckons removing one of these from the equation just isn't right, as Wetherspoons is finding to its cost.









The pub chain is shifting its watering holes to non-smoking environments. Already 17 have been converted, but sales are down as a result. It still reckons this is the way forward, which is probably true given the government could well ban smoking in all places that serve food in the near future.









TS thinks they should ban eating in pubs instead. If anyone has seen TS wolfing down a curry they would understand that it’s a far more offensive and dangerous act than even smoking

wetherspoons curry was shit the last time I tasted it in the Gate House highgate. I wrote to them as I actually like w's but as always Tims office people like to take it easy so no reply.its going down the pan when that happens.