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The Duke Of Devonshire London

The Duke Of Devonshire London

3 2  Reviews

Pubs in London - Balham
39 Balham High Road , Balham, London, SW12 9AN
+44 (0) 20 8673 1363

The Duke Of Devonshire is a traditional Victorian pub with real ales, cocktails, pub food and wireless internet access.
Tags: beer garden, cocktails, food, late license, outside seating, pub, real ale, wireless internet access


The Duke Of Devonshire London Reviews


ooooh isn't it shiny - This place used to be a reliable sunday lunch type of pub. The kind of place that I'd take my parents and my dad would love it and my mum would turn her nose up at the smell of stale smoke.
Now they've had their re-furb my dad would turn his nose up at the feature wallpaper and my mum would be in seventh heaven that the toilets have handlotion in them. Why do pubs need handlotion? Its not a criticism. Its an honest question. I don't like the pub any less for it, although the Bedford is the only pub left in balham now that hasn't been re-furbished within an inch of its honest old boozer life. I'm slightly nostalgic for the old decor...but I do love the shiny clean side of things. The food is too expensive for pub food, but it tasted just fine.  
Tags: handlotion, pub

Rating  4

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The food's a bit rubbish - I honestly LIKE the The Duke of Devonshire. I honestly do (I had my engagement drinks there!), but it did used to be better.
Although the massive pub remains largely unchanged in terms of decor - it's fairly traditional, with candles, wooden tables and chairs - the catering *has* changed and I don't like it.

There was a time where you could get a plate of noodles or some similarly cheap and cheerful foodstuff and the place had the feel of value. It wasn't particularly *good* food, but it was honest in its pricing - a real selling point... after all, how many times have you fancied some food and drink and decided maybe not to bother because it's the end of the month and you're running a bit low on funds? Too many, if you're me, but The Duke of Devonshire was always the way round this.
Then The Clarence opened up, just across the road and everything seemed to change.

Now The Clarence (I've reviewed this separately, if you want to search) has made a point of serving really nice food. It's a good standard of relaxed gastro pub and given the number of orders that they seem to be taking, it's clearly making a killing in terms of profit.
The Duke of Devonshire has, it seems to me, decided that they'd like a piece of the same big-money bucks and have changed their menu to something slightly more upmarket. Looking at it, the menu is really just standard pub grub, priced at a level that seems to be a waste of everyone's time.

Pie and Mash for a tenner? Is it a *special* pie? Will it dance for me? No? Oh. Right.
Why wouldn't I go and spend a tenner at the Clarence and get something that's really nice?

The last time I was at The Duke of Devonshire, I had their chilli con carne. It tasted as if it had come out of a tin and it was a pitiful portion.
It's sad to me that the pub has changed in this way. Previously, it had a real selling point in terms of food, but now, it could be any pub, anywhere.

The Duke of Devonshire is still a good place to meet - the massive proportions make it easy to find a table, even if you're with a decent sized group. It's open late and the music is usually quite good - lots of tracks that will rack up a phone bill on Shazam as you try to remember who sang them!

Good points: Big indoor space, lots of seating, large garden (although it's sadly mostly concrete) reasonably priced drinks
Bad points: the pub are clearly delusional about their food  
Tags: Balham pub food

Rating  3

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