A pretty penny for Wimbledon villagers

Residents near the All England Club rent parking spots and homes, capitalising on the influx of visitors, writes William Johnson.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II meets, from left, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki as she attends the Wimbledon .for the first time in Show more

Wimbledon fortnight can be a nightmare for those who live in the London postal district of SW19. They are prevented from going about their normal daily business by the arrival of thousands of slow-moving vehicles driven by those who make the annual trek to the All England Club either to work or to watch the tennis. For those in a position to capitalise on their assets, however, the championships can be a cash cow that can be milked for all it is worth. Whether it be a spare room, an entire property, a place to park or an outlet selling food, drink and memorabilia, the residents of this semi-rural suburb of England's capital city are by no means short of enterprise.

Patrick Shanahan is the general manager of Wimbledon Park Golf Club which becomes the biggest car park in town for a fortnight, accommodating around a thousand vehicles a day at £25 (Dh137) per visit. "It is our policy not to divulge what income we make during the tennis championships," he said. "But as you can see there are a lot of cars here. "The daily numbers depend on the weather. Our principal concern is protecting our course.

"There is no damage to the fairways when the ground is firm but wet weather can change that so we have the overall call on how much land we make available. The tees and greens, of course, are completely off limits." Shanahan said that the 900 members of his club, 300 of whom are active playing members, "embrace" the annual situation, mindful that their subscriptions are considerably reduced by the funds that are generated during the three weeks of closure.

"Most of our members just settle for not playing at this time of the year, but if any of them are really keen to have a game we have arrangements with neighbouring clubs for visitors' passes," he said. The adjacent "Wimbledon Club" - a cricket-led institution which also has thriving hockey, squash and tennis sections - made no secret of what the tennis event means to them financially. "I think our finances are a matter of public record," said Roger Stevens, a director of the club and the man who runs their commercial activities during the big fortnight.

"We made something in the region of £500,000 last year, which is split between parking and corporate hospitality. "There is disruption for our membership, mainly to the cricket at a key part of the season, but the other side of the coin is that we make a lot of money out of being disrupted. " If we didn't make that money we wouldn't have our wonderful clubhouse or be able to employ the 14 staff we have to run the place.

"The members are happy to go along with the situation because it benefits them. The cricket square is always extremely well-protected and always will be." St Mary's Church, an imposing building at the top of the hill between the All England Club and Wimbledon Village, is perfectly situated for parking and it undercuts the official car parks by £5 in an attempt to put welcome revenue into the parish coffers.

Mary Bide is the Team Rector but she was unwilling to discuss the facility which benefits three local charities each year. That reticence was due to a controversy last year when some cars were directed into the cemetery and needed to cross over old gravestones to get to their parking positions. David Thirtell and his wife, Janet, operate a thriving letting business during the championships. Fifty-five properties were made available to them by local residents and they managed to find tenants for more than half of those clients.

Four of those houses are occupied by players, although Thirtell did not identify them due to confidentiality agreements. "Two of them are seeded", was as far as he would go. The Thirtells, who run the small nine-bedroom Worcester House Hotel which is about a 15-minute walk away from the All England Club and has a regular clientele of tennis officials during the Championships, are delighted with the way the venture has taken off and they expect to pick up a handsome bonus when the Olympics come to London in 2012.

"We have been told to expect to accommodate the South African Olympic team and possibly a couple of other teams," said Thirtell. "So 2012 promises to be an exceptional year for us." Thirtell said that about half of the residents who hand over their homes for the Wimbledon fortnight leave the country for a foreign holiday which is comfortably funded by proceeds from the letting arrangement. The bigger the house, the more exotic the holiday.

The other half prefer to stay in their properties as two-week hosts for their lodgers, many of whom have become annual visitors. "We have wide range of accommodation to offer," he said. "The cheapest is a room in somebody's house at £50 per night for bed and breakfast; the most expensive is to take over a five-bedroom place for £3,000 a week." The main pedestrian thoroughfare to the All England Club is the one-mile stretch of Wimbledon Park Road from Southfields underground station to the main gates four and five.

Not too long ago the thousands of spectators who emerged on each of the 13 playing days would be presented with countless opportunities to part with their money. There are fewer entrepreneurs down that stretch nowadays, principally because of the tighter regulations regarding the sale of cut-price imitation merchandise. One still-present fixture are the touts that line the road. It is illegal to deal with them but their shady business goes on. One of them was keen to off-load a single seat for Court Two for £350 - an outrageous mark up on the face value of £41. Another demanded £250 for a £20 ground ticket. "Everybody wants to see The Queen," he said, justifying his price.

By the time of his attempted sale, Queen Elizabeth II had arrived and was dining before taking her seat in the Royal Box. It was her first time at the All England Club since Virginia Wade became the last British player to win a main draw singles event 33 years ago. @Email:[e-mail]