With over 500,000 people heading to watch the tennis at Wimbledon every year including the royal family, you might dream up of its luscious green parks and quaint restaurants in the village, but that isn’t the case.
When people ask me where I live and I tell them, they ‘ohh’ and ‘ahh’ at the thought of it, thinking of Wimbledon as a quiet little area away from the grimy life of London.
I myself pay £1,750 a month for the privilege to live two miles from the famous tennis courts, in reality, it’s nothing short of a nightmare.
After being there for two years, I’m heading off to North London to get away from it.
The tube that goes on until 1am every night leaves my building rattling as the cracks in the ceilings and walls sprinkle dust over my bed.
The never-ending sirens of police cars and ambulances pushing through red lights means a peaceful nights sleep is never an option, and don’t even get me started on the crowds of people packing themselves into the high street like sardines on game days.
Yes, you have the swanky Ritz hotel and restaurant nearby, you also have Nando’s just down the road.
People who haven’t been to Wimbledon see it as a bucket-list day but I can tell you right now, save your pennies.
I’ve been to Wimbledon to watch the matches and unless you’re an avid follower who knows the smaller players and want to watch a five hour long game played out by juniors you’ll just end up like any old folk around Wimbledon town watching the big games on TV screens unless you fork out £275.
Queuing for half an hour to get overpriced Pimms (£11.95) and cups of strawberries for £2.50 isn’t my idea of a perfect summer day.
Heading to Southfields which is the closest tube station for Wimbledon Tennis, the queue starts before you even get off the platform.
Despite it raining all day droves of people still came out in their Sunday Bests, and walked the mile long strip to watch the event.
Along the way, residents hire out their driveways to mobile coffee shops to earn some extra cash.
And I can’t really blame them, with an average price of £938,571 for each home, they have to pay the mortgage costs somehow.
One particularly savvy resident even had a station set up to sell umbrellas for those who forgot to bring them.
But, on the plus side Wimbledon sponsors like Stella Artois also had stalls along the way giving out free hats.
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Not only do I have to put up with ridiculous crowds of tourists every year – but the locals are no good either.
From constantly having drunks screaming in the road until the late hours, to seeing security guards taken down by legions of school kids.
We also recently had the honour of a rogue man wearing a cape guarding the tube station at night (not hired by TFL), making it pretty uncomfortable for anyone trying to get home in the evening.
Far too many times on my runs I’ve seen people swigging out of a bottle of wine before midday or throwing up in the streets – trust me, step a mile outside of the courts and your back in the grizzly heart of London, and I can’t wait to leave it behind.
