Why Do 1,000 Refugees Get Free Wimbledon Tickets While Long Suffering Locals Get None?

 Glancing upwards only to spot a drone hovering over their gardens last week was the last straw for residents of Welford Place SW19, whose homes overlook the much lauded All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC). While the eye in the sky probably belongs to an accredited broadcaster scouting out local colour ahead of the annual championships, the intrusion felt all too typical of the approach that the Wimbledon high command itself takes to its near neighbours. 

The annual championships may charm a world audience with its cultivated celebration of grass court tennis, strawberries and a nostalgic evocation of English fair play, but for neighbours this image, as carefully manicured as its famous lawns, is virtually shredded. From a highly controversial planning application to a woke offer of 1,000 free tickets for refugees, local Wimbledonians feel excluded as never before from the international spectacle on their doorsteps.

Nowhere in the mainstream media’s fawning previews of Wimbledon 2025 has there been mention of the battle commencing next week in a quite different London court. On July 8th, just as the tournament heats up in its final week, a determined group of local activists is challenging the basis of planning permission granted by the Mayor of London’s office to the All England Lawn Tennis Club in the High Court. Save Wimbledon Park will be pinning its hopes on a judicial review. The group which has fought the plans tirelessly has secured pro bono legal support, but is still crowdfunding towards the £200,000 necessary to take their case to the High Court....<<<Read More>>>...