Wimble-Done! Where To Watch The Tennis This Summer
It’s that time of year when people start popping up to say ‘it’s Pimms o’clock’ as though they came up with the tagline themselves, we all dust off our tennis whites and wonder why we don’t play all year round and the nation tees itself up for collective disappointment by putting all our championship hopes on some unlikely British wildcard who will, of course, be knocked out in week one. Welcome to Wimbledon 2018.
Unless you want to wait in a queue more miserable than Andy Murray’s permafrown, or be trampled to death attempting to reach the bar at an SW19 pub, then you’re going to want to find somewhere nice and tucked-away to watch the championship in style. Which is where The Handbook comes in. If you’ve not bagged Centre Court tickets, here’s where you should be watching to get your Wimbledon game set and matched…
Old Laundry Yard
Sun, streetfood and screens in chez-boo for Wimbledon. The Shepherds Bush answer to Boxpark/Last Days Of Shoreditch etc, Old Laundry Yard is perfectly suited for West Londoners to watch Wimbledon in style, not least thanks to a line-up of traders that includes Venezuelan Papelon, Indonesian BBQ specialists Warung Jawa, Jollof Mama and Maxine Cooks.
Mr Fogg’s Tavern
Quintessentially British and a magnet for the eccentric, Wimbledon and Mr Fogg’s have more than a little in common. The Covent Garden bar will be on-hand with live screenings of all the action (if you must, they’ll have the ‘footy’ on too) and will be offering plenty of punchy punch options to celebrate.
Bunga Bunga, Battersea
Okay so I just had to google ‘Italian tennis players’ and I’m going to level with you that I’m non-the-wiser, but while they might not be a nation of Wimbledon champs, Battersea’s Italian restaurant, bar and club Bunga Bunga will be nevertheless getting into and onto the spirit while screening Wimbledon. Sip a rosemary and limoncello spritz while you watch *insert British player here* crash out.
Tibits
‘Do bits’ may be the phrase of the summer (non-Love Island watchers scratching their heads) but it’s all about Tibits. While the players get used to playing on the grass, you can get used to eating it over at the vegetarian and vegan restaurant. And the’ve only and created their own lawn on the terrace, putting up a big screen and wheeling out their award winning veggie and and vegan dishes at their Heddon Street venue for any avid tennis fans.
Aster
When they say ‘new balls’ at Aster it normally means someone’s placed another order for meatballs. The Nordic/French restaurant in the heart of Victoria is worth a visit at the best of times, but when better than when they’ve got Wimbledon on the big telly and five specially created cocktails on the table. The cocktails include the Andy Murray, The Williams Double and the Sharapova Shriek and can be served alongside a Wimbledon Mess with Pimms jelly, meringue, strawberries and cream.
Skylon
There’s something wonderfully 1950s about both Wimbledon and Skylon. With Wimbledon it’s probably the outdated traditions and stuffiness, but with Skylon it’s the futuristic post-war excitement that makes the poured-concrete Royal Festival Hall ediface so overwhelmingly cool. And Skylon, overlooking the Thames, sits in the centre of the complex and fully deserves a visit with or without their big screens, tennis themed cocktails and bottomless brunches. Go watch the tennis there, watch the river there or just watch your bottomless Prosecco drain down there.
Hotel du Vin
Okay, so normally I’d be telling you to stay well clear of Wimbledon itself (as a former resident I can attest to the fact that it’s a total nightmare (plus they suspend your residents’ parking when you’re not looking then slap a ticket on your windscreen, bastards)), but if you’re planning to stay anywhere for the event then head to the Hotel du Vin. One of my all time Wimbledon favourites, they’ve got a quirky collab on with Slingsby Gin and the hotel suites have been transformed into ‘multi-sensory botanical wonderlands’, with floor-to-ceiling stunning plant life created by Chelsea Flower Show gardener and designer Matthew Wilson. Pop in an anti-histimine tablet and pop on the tennis while you down one of the full-sized bottles of Slingsby’s award-winning London Dry and Rhubarb gins.
Camden Market
Is that a picture of people watching the football? Yes it is, that’s the attention to detail we pride ourselves on here. But thankfully someone in authority has the three foot remote control you presumably need to switch channel on that ma-hoo-sive telly and will be flicking it over to Wimbledon as soon as the championship starts. Face it, where else, other than Camden Market, can you get a heavy metal tattoo and a piercing, an antique mirror and watch at twelve foot Roger Federer all in the same place?
The Hamptons Bar, Exchange Square at Broadgate
Coming to our place in The Hamptons? No, not the Long Island getaway but a sun lounger in The City’s Exchange Square at Broadgate. The pop-up bar has arrived and will be serving a near constant flow of Pimm’s while Wimbledon screens throughout the championship. Champion!
Bluebird, Chelsea
Go all al fresco at what has become a Chelsea institution, the Bluebird’s Wimbledon courtyard. To celebrate they’ll be serving (geddit) a set (geddit again?) menu for the ladies’ and gentlemen’s finals. Also expect frozen premium alcoholic popsicles, including new Pimms flavour.
