LRG Summer Social 2026 - Balham

Date: Tuesday 9 June 2026

Time: Meet at 6.00 p.m at the Devonshire Pub, 39 Balham High Road Balham, London SW12 9AN. We will leave for the next pub at around 6.30/6.45 p.m.

Cost: Free to all. Partners and +1s welcome.

Join us for the annual LRG summer social. This year we will visit Balham in South London, originally developed as a prosperous suburb for bankers in the mid-19th century, only to fall into some disrepair by the 1980s and now a lively place to be, improved rather than gentrified, home to young professionals and families, and your host this evening, Peter Bowen.

We will meet at the Devonshire at the bottom of Balham Hill, named for the family that included Henry Cavendish, a reclusive 18th century scientist who weighed the Earth and lived in a rambling mansion opposite where Clapham South tube station now stands. His house is long gone, replaced by the South London Hospital for Women, now a Tesco.

We will then meander south along Balham High Street (aka the Roman Stane Street) to Balham Bowls Club, a wood-panelled pub with many rooms and once, you guessed it, a bowls club. The green has since become a housing development.

We then have the option of continuing to the Regent, close to Balham Station, or heading straight to the Bedford for some food. The menu is half price and participants who wish to stay for dinner will need to make their selections two weeks before the event (the menu will be sent out nearer the time). The Bedford is a hotel/pub/music venue. Its stage has seen the likes of the Clash, U2 and more recently Ed Sheeran. Plus for many years the Banana Cabaret comedy club. One of its many star turns, Arthur Smith, lives nearby in the Art Deco apartment block Du Cane Court.

You are welcome to leave your phone number during checkout. We will create a WhatsApp group and share our live location, so you can easily catch up with us if you are running late. The group will be deleted once the event is over.

Balham is accessible by tube on the Northern Line and by train from London Victoria. You could also take the tube to Clapham South to save entering zone 3. It’s a short walk down the hill to the Devonshire from there.

If you fancy a look at the pubs' websites:

The Devonshire: https://www.devonshirebalham.co.uk/

Balham Bowls Club: https://www.urbanpubsandbars.com/venues/balham-bowls-club

The Regent: https://theregentbalham.co.uk/

The Bedford: https://thebedford.com/

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