Where to drink in Nightingale Triangle: two pubs worth the walk

Short version: for a proper local with cask beer, a garden and a Sunday roast, go to the Nightingale on Nightingale Lane. For a big group, a big garden and a weekend night out, go to the Avalon on Balham Hill, right by Clapham South tube.

First, where is the Triangle?

Nightingale Triangle is an estate-agent label rather than an official district. John Thorogood says it is not strictly a triangle and puts the edges at Ravenslea Road, Nightingale Lane and Balham High Road. Moveli describes it as the area between Nightingale Lane and Balham High Street. Dexters places it between Clapham and Balham and talks up the tree-lined streets and Victorian architecture.

Postcodes are mainly SW12, with some SW4. The nearest stations are Clapham South on the Northern line, at the corner of Balham Hill and Nightingale Lane, plus Balham and Wandsworth Common. Northcote Road is close if you want to eat first.

The Nightingale, Nightingale Lane

Where: 97 Nightingale Lane, SW12 8NX. A Young’s pub, on the Wandsworth Common side of the Triangle. It is about 0.45 miles from Clapham South, 0.49 miles from Balham and 0.36 miles from Wandsworth Common station. You will often see it labelled Balham, but estate agents file the area under Clapham South.

Good for: a local with a proper pint, Sunday lunch, sport and a garden.

What to drink: CAMRA lists two regular Young’s ales plus three changing beers, so start with the Young’s and see what the guest cask is. DesignMyNight says the pub appears year after year in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

What to eat: the Sunday roast, served 12pm to 9pm according to the pub’s own site. Reviews on TripAdvisor praise the roast, though one says the food is uneven, so go for the roast and a pint rather than a big dinner plan.

The room: the London Region CAMRA entry describes a traditional public bar at the front and a larger saloon bar leading to a rear extension and a sheltered garden. The pub’s site advertises a covered, all-season garden tucked just off Nightingale Lane, which makes it a sensible bet when the weather is undecided. DesignMyNight calls it a mid-Victorian cottage-style pub, Grade II listed.

Sport: the pub says it shows every Six Nations match live.

Price and booking: DesignMyNight rates it “Happily Affordable” (two pound signs) and says it takes bookings. For a Sunday roast, booking is the sensible move. Opening hours vary by listing: CAMRA gives an 11am opening and Yelp gives 12pm to midnight on weekdays, so check the pub’s own site before you set off.

One small oddity: sources disagree on when the pub was built, with CAMRA saying 1853 and DesignMyNight saying 1869. Either way, it has been pulling pints for well over a century.

The Avalon, Balham Hill

Where: 16 Balham Hill, SW12 9EB, at the top of Balham Hill by Clapham South tube, on the eastern edge of the Triangle. It is run by Three Cheers Pub Co.

Good for: groups, a big garden, weekend nights and Sunday lunch.

The room: opened in 2008, according to its operator, and the biggest pub in the Three Cheers group. There is a big bar, a huge dining room, a private room called the Blue Room and three outdoor spaces, including a large Summer Garden at the back. Visit London calls it family friendly, with a great beer garden, and a five-minute walk from Clapham Common.

What to drink: CAMRA lists it as a gastropub with a traditional bar, a front lounge and a back garden, serving real ale. CAMRA also says it was once a coaching inn and is probably the oldest pub in the area, renamed after a refurbishment.

Price and nights out: OpenTable shows “£25 and under” a head and a rating of 3.9 from 258 reviews. The same listing mentions DJs on Friday and Saturday from 9pm, so confirm that before planning a night around it.

Which one when

• Quiet pint and a roast: the Nightingale, Nightingale Lane.
• Rugby on a Saturday: the Nightingale, which shows Six Nations matches.
• Six or more people and a garden: the Avalon, Balham Hill.
• Straight off the tube: the Avalon, a minute from Clapham South.
• Family afternoon: the Avalon, which Visit London lists as family friendly.

A third option nearby

Belleville Brewing Co. runs a taproom serving its own American-style beers, founded by ten dads with children at Belleville primary school. Its own site gives opening hours of Wednesday and Thursday 5pm to 11pm, Friday 4pm to 11pm, Saturday 12pm to 11pm and Sunday 1pm to 8pm. CAMRA lists the taproom at 44 Jaggard Way, SW12 8SG, near Wandsworth Common, so it sits on the western edge of the Triangle or just outside it. CAMRA says there is no cask beer, with eight Belleville beers on offer. Check the current schedule on the brewery’s site before you go.

Getting there

Clapham South is the easiest start for both pubs. For the Avalon, you are on the doorstep. For the Nightingale, head along Nightingale Lane, which the Clapham Society describes as one of Clapham’s oldest thoroughfares, and which still has a row of shops built by sanitary engineer George Jennings in the 19th century. Wandsworth Common and Balham stations also work if you are coming from the other side.