Balham

Balham has four commons on its doorstep and spends Saturday morning in a coffee queue on the high road anyway. That high road follows the Roman route to Chichester, making it the oldest commute in south London, and nobody on it has looked cheerful since. In 1940 a bus fell into a bomb crater outside the station and took two weeks to haul out, which is still the benchmark locals use for the Northern line at half eight.