Fury as locals in posh Wimbledon street slam drunk fans ‘peeing’ outside their £1m homes.uk
EXCLUSIVE: Locals also think the tournament has got ‘too corporate’, and the atmosphere has changed.
Some tipsy visitors empty their bladders and leave rubbish behind. (Image: Getty)
People attending Wimbledon’s world-famous tennis tournament, which begins on Monday, urinate and pass out outside houses, and order takeaway food to residents’ addresses up to three times a day, locals have said.
South west Londoners living in a Southfields street where average sold price for a property in the last 12 months is £1,076,593, according to Zoopla, also bemoaned the event becoming too “corporate”, and spoke of a “nicer atmosphere” in times gone by. Ali Khan, 45, the director of a luxury travel company, told the Express that people empty their bladders outside his family home, which his mother, Bilquis Salam, 82, has lived in since 1968.
Bottles and cans are also left on the wall and in the garden. “It’s usually afterwards when they’re drunk,” he said. “We’ve seen people passed out right in front of our gate here.” But Mr Khan made sure to emphasise that the family loves the tournament. “It’s just that way it is. It’s the same thing near any stadium with any sporting event or any concert,” the businessman added. Ms Salam, who used to work for her husband in the property sector, said: “I’ll tell you a secret, Carlos Alcaraz comes and lives next door.”
Locals get a very good return from renting out their properties to players, which they use to pay for holidays, the Express was told.
Ms Salam recalled that people used to sleep outside her home on the pavement before queues for tickets were moved inside Wimbledon Park, and added that nowadays workers are “very quick” at clearing the rubbish left behind.
Maddie Miller is Co-Chair of the Southfields Business Forum. (Image: James Kenny)
Locals say workers are very quick at cleaning up after the crowds. (Image: Phil Harris)
The All England Lawn and Tennis Club (AELTC) said that its team cleans the streets around the perimeter of its estate to ensure a “tidy environment for residents”.
James, 50, who did not wish to provide his surname, has been living in the street on and off since 1981.
The architect said: “People order food and give our address. We get loads of Uber drivers, literally two or three times a day. We tell them it’s not our food.”
Anna Ahmed, 85, who used to work with her husband exporting radiation detectors and trading computer parts from Taiwan, said: “I think they’re very well behaved. I’ve never had any trouble. I’m partly deaf; maybe that’s a good thing. But even when I wasn’t, they were well behaved.”
She went as far to say that the area is “cleaner than a lot of other areas”.
However, Mrs Ahmed is not an avid watcher of the tennis. “I’ve got better things to do,” she said.
Karen McConnell, 63, a private chef, who has lived in the street for 32 years, said: “If you buy a house here, you know what you’re in for… you’re going to have the occasional drunk with that many people.”
She added that the tournament is today “all about the money”.
“It used to be for the people,” she said. “When I was in my 20s, I used to go [and watch matches] after work for a £1. So many people do work up there voluntarily.”
In previous years, Ms McConnell said, more people set up their own stalls in the street, including the creator of Bob the Builder, Keith Chapman, who once sold his artwork from her drive.
Ms McConnell added: “My daughters, when they were really small, had jugs of homemade lemonade and fairy cakes, and they used to sell them.”
Business management student Grace, 19, who did not wish to provide her surname, said: “When I was younger, it was nicer. There used to be stalls and freebies and stuff like coconut water and candy kittens.”
Anna Ahmed has lived in the street next to the AELTC for more than 40 years. (Image: Phil Harris)
Alex James thinks local businesses should have more of a chance to take advantage of the crowds. (Image: Phil Harris)
“Now there are less about. That used to be a big pro of walking to school.”
Co-Chair of the Southfields Business Forum, Maddie Miller, feels that Southfields has been “overlooked” in favour of Wimbledon Village.
“Essentially, what we’re trying to do this year is to create much more of a vibe, and a more welcoming feel that fits into the whole Wimbledon experience,” she said. “In future years we want to create a bit of a village atmosphere inside the park.”
The ticket queue is a “huge opportunity”, Ms Miller added, and a “hub” could include stalls set up by local businesses.
The AELTC “has been great”, she then said, and wayfinders mean visitors are also now better directed to shops in Southfields.
This will be music to the ears of Alex James, 48, who founded London to Lima Gin in 2017.
“A little fella like me doesn’t get a look in,” he said. The British Army Captain-turned-distiller added: “Local people should get an opportunity to take advantage of that period.
“We should be able to have a stand in the club, or maybe in the park or something. We’ve never had such a captive audience.”
Mr James would also like to see more stalls in the street, especially as it is a way children can “learn a little about engaging with people they don’t know”.
On the behaviour of tennis fans, Mr James added: “They’re usually well behaved. Not always.
“I think the council does a good job of sorting it out. They put some extra bins out, but they do get full pretty quickly.
“You can’t expect the crowd to behave perfectly, can you? They’re not rowdy. It’s tennis, isn’t it? It’s not a football match.”
Wandsworth Borough Council said it “works closely with AELTC during the preparation for the tournament and we ensure the services work together to keep the area clean and organised during the tournament”. A spokesperson added: “Our officers enforce against littering on the public highway and we encourage all visitors to use bins provided in the area.”
