With Wimbledon being less than a month away, spectators, tennis fans and keen members of the public will have been weighing up the cost of attending the event. For attendees of the prestigious annual competition, the experience is lavish, with a host of traditions being associated with the event. Despite there being a multitude of other well-respected tennis events every year, including The Australian Open, The French Open and The US Open, Wimbledon is generally recognised as the most eminent. The tournament is set apart from others in several ways: the presence of grass, celebrity and royal attendance in addition to the event’s history and culture make it the most respected tennis competition in existence.
The high status of the event begs the question, how costly is a Glaswegian attendance of the competition? With the price of tickets, travel, food and drink and accommodation, presence at Wimbledon is more than likely to set spectators back a painful amount. Today, I’m going to attempt to calculate roughly how much a couples 3-night extravagant trip from Glasgow to Wimbledon would cost.
If the guest was to attend the competition on both the 2nd and 3rd of July on centre court, £60 per day would come to a total of £120 per person. This, in addition to £25 for grounds admission per day comes to an eye-watering ticket total of £170. Bear in mind that these two days are the cheapest of the 13-day event!
With Wimbledon starting on the 2nd of July, travelling to London would be ideal on the 1st. Spectators would enjoy a 3-night stay, returning to Glasgow on the 4th of July. First-class train travel between Glasgow Central and London Euston to copycat the extravagance of Wimbledon could set an attendee back up to £274. Alternatively, to save the event’s guests time, plane travel may be preferred by guests. First-class return travel with British Airways could cost Wimbledon spectators up to £412 each. Ouch!
The cost of accommodation for the Glaswegian spectators must also be considered. To keep up with the extravagance commonly associated with Wimbledon, let’s assume the visitors will stay in a 5-star hotel. The Chelsea Harbour Hotel would be a fitting option since it is just 5 miles from the tournament. A 3-night stay in a room accommodating two guests would cost £1, 094. Yikes.
Finally, the cost of Wimbledon’s food and drink must be acknowledged. The site’s Fox & Grapes restaurant sets visitors back £30-£80 for two people. Alternatively, Wimbledon’s Wingfield Restaurant is the only bookable restaurant on the site, with a 3-course lunch with wine and mineral water costing £79.20 per person. A portion of strawberries and cream costs £2.50 per serving. Therefore a 3-course meal and a portion of strawberries per person on both days of attendance would cost the couple around £331. Despite this, the cost of food and drink outside the Wimbledon grounds has not been considered – let’s assume that a further £150 per person per day will be spent on food and drink outside of the event.
There we have it. A 3-night couple’s trip to London from Glasgow, including only the most lavish products and services, would cost the pair around £3, 175. This doesn’t include transport to and from Wimbledon and around the city or any other add-ons. Nevertheless, compare this sum to the tournament’s total prize money of £34m and it doesn’t seem like such an absurd price to pay!
