Christ Church, Balliol, New, or University?

Balliol, however, doesn't have a formal hall - so if you consider that particularly important (and I don't know why anybody would, personally - but that's just me!), perhaps you should look elsewhere.

King's College in Cambridge doesn't have a formal hall either. I suppose I can see why you don't mind, since you've never had it in the first place, but for me this would be a big factor. Formal hall is a good way of having a nice meal that costs very little. It also means you can have 'hall swaps' with people from other colleges, so it serves a social role as well. Even when you haven't invited guests, it's a lot more fun than eating in the canteen.

I thought all colleges have that, it just differs on how 'formal' it is, ie at Wadham there's hall in the evenings which is waiter service, subsidised etc, but true to the college's rep there is no grace, no gowns and you don't have to stand up when the warden comes in.
Given Balliol's similar political leanings I would not be surprised if it were not the same there - I do not see why they would abolish the whole thing altogether, just get rid of the unnessecary 'formal' bits!