Former Brixton ballroom is up for sale for £1,150,000 — with original 1860s features

A moment of nostalgia for days gone by in South London, a former Brixton ballroom has hit the market for £1,150,000.

Many of the original features, including the breathtaking embellished ceiling which dates back to the Victorian period, remain in place.

With three bedrooms and three bathrooms, the apartment sits across 1,880 square feet. But, thinking back to days gone by, the rooms hold their own special history – and tell the tales of the countless Brixtonians who danced, drank and sang there in years gone by.

The Old Ballroom is found inside the Loughborough Hotel on, naturally, Loughborough Road in Brixton. The pub closed in 2008, but the building dates back to the mid-Victorian period in the 1860s, alongside the neighbouring terraced houses.

The pub was situated on the ground floor and the larger ballroom was found upstairs. During the mid-1990s, the London-based film collective the Exploding Cinema took up residency there – and it was the venue for the first-ever Woodentops indie gig in 1983.

Following its closure, it was converted into multiple flats and a small ground-floor gallery – the Old Ballroom being just one of them.

The doors might’ve closed years ago, but former friends of the venue continue to reflect on its legacy.

As published in Brixton Buzz, one clubber reminisced on their memories of it, who noted that the very first night out they went to after moving to London was in 1987 at Wear It Out – which was hosted above the Loughborough Hotel.

‘Music was a mixture of classic soul/funk and new beats. I know it was there that I first heard Prince’s Sign O’ The Times, which also came out that year,’ the clubber shared.

‘The same venue became a big part of Brixton nightlife in the late 1980s/early 1990s going on to become a gay club where they played lots of Stock Aitken & Waterman dance pop and then from 1989 to 1997 the home of the Mambo Inn, legendary Latin & African music club.’

As for the features of the property itself, the rich colour palette inside ‘harks back to the building’s roots,’ as the Rightmove listing reads.

‘It has retained its original decorative scheme and grandeur. It was recently the subject of extensive restoration works that have conserved the former hotel’s impressive – and rather singular – character,’ it adds.

However, the service charge is relatively hefty, coming in at £1,618.25 per quarter (£6,473 per year).

But when it comes to the lease, there are still 900 years left, so any potential buyers won’t need to apply to renew it any time soon.

Now that it’s for sale, the listing made it into the SpottedonRightmove Reddit thread, a space dedicated to posting the weird, wacky and wonderful property listings that go up daily.

There were plenty of fans here, as @stuartsjones simply wrote: ‘this is ace.’

For @frothycoffeedude, it seemed ‘very reasonably priced’ considering the history, which he thought was ‘very tasteful.’

@TurquoiseHareToday was a huge fan of the book gallery featuring a spiral staircase, and asked: ‘where do I sign?’

‘Weirdly cheap. Okay, “cheap” is relative for London, but I thought that would be way more for the grandeur,’ @olympicsmatt wrote.

Some Redditors even reminisced on times gone by, as @wtfftw1042 shared that they ‘used to go to this pub’ and there was ‘boxing and salsa upstairs.’

‘I used to walk past this every day,’ @ruawizard69 added. ‘Always thought it would have been such a cool building to live in.’

And for @palpatineforever, it made them ‘sad thinking about its past glory.’

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