During World War II, Balham Underground station suffered heavy damage from air raids, killing around 64 people.

Notable landmarks in the area include the Bedford, a pub venue for live music and comedy, the distinctive Art Deco-designed Du Cane Court, and the Oak Lodge School for deaf children.

Large country retreats for the affluent classes were built there in the 18th century; however, most development occurred after the opening of Balham railway station on the line to Crystal Palace in 1856.

On 14 October 1940 Balham Underground station was badly damaged by air raids on London during World War II.

A bomb fell in the High Road and through the roof of the Underground station below, bursting water and gas mains and killing around 64 people.

[9][10] Balham is overwhelmingly in Wandsworth, with only small parts in the neighbouring Borough of Lambeth and encompasses the A24 north of Tooting Bec and the roads radiating off it.

The southern part of Balham, towards Tooting Bec, near the 1930s block of Art Deco flats called Du Cane Court and the area to the south of Wandsworth Common, comes under the SW17 postcode.

Balham is diverse both in terms of economic and cultural demographics with an increasingly professional middle class population.

The White Eagle Club is a thriving Polish community centre, and its traditional Saturday night dance draws people from across London.

Written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, with Peter Sellers as the narrator, it satirised the travelogues of the day, with their faraway exotic locations, by highlighting the supposed tourist attractions of Balham in postwar austerity Britain.

[55] In 1979 Micky Dolenz of the Monkees directed a short film based on the sketch with Robbie Coltrane playing multiple roles.