Celebrity chef and tennis fan Marcus Wareing has welcomed a legal victory for the £200million Wimbledon expansion, saying it would help secure the event’s spot on the world sporting stage for the next century.
A High Court ruling last week cleared the way for The All England Club to develop an adjacent golf course – to the dismay of campaign groups.
The club wants to build 39 new grass courts and an 8,000-seat stadium, which would allow it to host qualifying matches on site and help it keep pace with rival three-week grand-slam events – the Australian, French and US Opens.
The MasterChef judge, who lives in SW19 and has worked with the club in recent years to create menus for the championship, said he hoped all residents would come to appreciate the benefits of an expanded site.
Wareing, 55 told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I’ve lived in Wimbledon for 11 years where this incredible club, which is steeped in tons of history, sits head and shoulders above other tennis tournaments.
‘If Wimbledon is going to stay ahead of other slams, it needs to progress and move forward.
‘This regeneration of new land is a vital part of the next hundred years, and I can’t see Wimbledon progressing without it.
‘I’d hate for Wimbledon to decline into some old-fashioned, heritage event and I feel very positive that the club is planning for the future, because it will also mean a massive investment in new jobs.’
Celebrity chef and tennis fan Marcus Wareing has welcomed a legal victory for the £200million Wimbledon expansion, saying it would help secure the event’s spot on the world sporting stage for the next century
The club wants to build 39 new grass courts and an 8,000-seat stadium, which would allow it to host qualifying matches on site and help it keep pace with rival three-week grand-slam events – the Australian, French and US Opens
The club bought the land from Wimbledon Park Golf Club in 2018 for £65million but has been entangled in legal proceedings ever since.
Planning permission was granted in 2024 but the question remained whether the land was protected for public use only.
Last week a judge ruled in The All England Club’s favour ‘by a wide margin’, finding that the land was not subject to a statutory trust for public recreation.
Despite this, campaign group Save Wimbledon Park, the main opponent to the plan, has vowed to go to the Court of Appeal.
Jeremy Hudson, a spokesman for the group, said: ‘Wimbledon promised they would never build on this land, and Wimbledon can do better because there are existing, alternative plans which show that their scheme can be accommodated on their current site.’
