During the Wimbledon tennis championships, the area of SW19 undergoes a dramatic transformation. Scaffolding and viewing screens appear, and shopfronts adopt tennis-themed decorations featuring grass, balls, racquets, and flowers. Adrian Mills, chairman of the Wimbledon Village Business Association and a 22-year resident, compares the spectacle to the Chelsea Flower Show. He notes that 65 shops participate in the Tennis Window Competition, which has run for 13 years and is, in his words, "actually more competitive than what goes on down the road."
The Tennis Effect on Local Economy and Community
The championships, held from June 29 to July 12 this year, bring over 500,000 visitors to SW19 annually. Alicia Drabble-Castellano, who moved to Wimbledon Park in 2008, describes the transformation: "The whole area completely transforms. There’s this electricity in the air. The queues, the flowers, the buzz in the cafés, people renting out rooms, tennis whites everywhere. It’s hectic at times, of course, but also magical." During the tournament, she rented her house to a BBC camera crew, earning around £4,000. Others rent spare rooms or parking spaces. A well-presented family home near the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) can fetch up to £6,000 for the fortnight, according to Hamptons' Fenella Hunt, with repeat bookings made "almost immediately after the tournament’s finished."
The tennis provides a significant boost to the local economy. Mills, who co-owns Thai Tho restaurant in Wimbledon Village with his wife Nicky, reports three sittings a night during the tournament, with profits sustaining the business for six months. Meeting tennis stars is a bonus: Andre Agassi, after losing to Pete Sampras in 1999, hosted a large dinner at the restaurant and helped rearrange tables. Judy Murray loved their prawn crackers, and Maria Sharapova ordered stir-fried beef with chilli and egg-fried rice 10 times in a fortnight, winning Wimbledon each time.
Beyond Tennis: Year-Round Appeal
While tennis puts Wimbledon on the world map, Mills emphasizes that "there’s so much more that goes on here for the other 50 weeks of the year. It’s a special place." The village, bordering Cannizaro Park, features independent shops, cafés, and a farmer's market. Favorites include Demitasse coffee shop, cocktail bar Elemen7s, and the Rose and Crown pub with a marquee and live music during tennis. Vallebona Italian-Japanese deli, Chango Empanadas, and Wimbledon Books are also recommended. Wimbledon Town, a 15-minute walk, offers the station with trams, buses, the District line, and mainline trains to Waterloo in 15 minutes. The Broadway has chains like Sainsbury's, Aldi, TK Maxx, H&M, and Starbucks, alongside local institutions like the Grade II-listed New Wimbledon Theatre (since 1910) and Elys department store, celebrating its 150th anniversary. Monthly pop-up markets occur at Wimbledon Quarter and Wimbledon Piazza, the latter showing a big screen during tennis. Wimbledon Park, near AELTC, has an attractive parade of shops on Arthur Road, including Japanese bakery FELT, Saucer & Cup café, and wine shop Park Vintners.
Property Prices and Where to Live
Wimbledon is expensive throughout. Celebrities favor the village: Simon Cowell reportedly owns a £15 million mansion near the Common, Michael Caine downsized to be closer to family, and Ant McPartlin sold his £6 million mansion last year. Mills describes the area's "town meets country" vibe, with green spaces and stables on the Common. The priciest houses fronting the Common can sell for over £16 million, according to Peter Woods at John D Wood & Co. Exclusive streets include North View, Camp Road, and West Place in the Common, while Lauriston, Murray, and Lingfield Roads are highly desirable due to proximity to the village and King's College.
Young professionals often seek Victorian and Edwardian houses in South Park Gardens or The Slopes (Thornton Hill, Denmark Avenue, Edge Hill) between Ridgway and Worple Road, costing £1.5 million to £2 million. A cottage might be £1 million, while a large house goes for £4 million to £6 million. First-time buyers can find flats at Wimbledon Place for under £500,000. Families gravitate toward top schools like Wimbledon Chase, Dundonald Primary, Bishop Gilpin CofE, and Wimbledon Park. Woods notes, "It’s a forever area. Once they move here, people tend to stay and settle." John Keeble at Hamptons agrees: "A lot of people stay here for a very long time. We regularly get houses on that people bought off us 40, 50, even 60 years ago." Hamptons' Wimbledon office opened in 1900, passing what Keeble calls the "100-year test."
Community Spirit
Drabble-Castellano, 49, moved from Fulham to Wimbledon Park in 2012. Her children attend local schools, and her womenswear brand Single Swan caters to local buyers. "It feels like a real community," she says. "London can feel quite isolating, but in Wimbledon, people know each other and are looking out for each other." Her street has an active WhatsApp group where neighbors pick up parcels. Her son remains close to primary school friends because many parents stayed in the area. Mahin Hussain moved from Pakistan in 2017, drawn by her sister and previous studies. A neighbor welcomed her with a homemade cake. Hussain, an artist, rents near Dundonald Recreation Ground and trades at Wimbledon's pop-up market. She designed a tea towel depicting Wimbledon New Theatre, visible from her window. The area offers cultural spots like Merton Abbey Mills and events like Wimbledon Art Trail and Wimbledon Bookfest, which draws over 20,000 attendees. Hussain values the good schools, transport links, and safety. "You feel like a part of the community," she says. "You see [the same] people walking to and from school every day." Like Mills and Drabble-Castellano, she hopes to stay but acknowledges the high cost: "That’s the million-dollar question… You need so much money to buy anything here. I would fight tooth and nail to stay in the area."
