UPDATED The Wimbledon Queue, one of British sport’s great and slightly mad traditions, opens today in the park five minutes from Southfields station. This is how it works, what it costs, and when to arrive.
The Championships begin on Monday 29 June and run until Sunday 12 July. But the Queue opens a day before the first ball is struck, at 2pm on Sunday 28 June, in Wimbledon Park. It is public parkland owned by the London Borough of Merton, although the queue itself sits in the Wandsworth Borough at the top end of the park, a short walk from Southfields station.
Up to 13,000 people camped there on the busiest day in 2025, according to the Wimbledon Park Residents’ Association. This year, with new infrastructure in place, it will be bigger still.
How it works
The system is simple. You arrive, join the queue, and receive a numbered Queue Card. That number determines what you can see.
The first roughly 500 people get Centre Court tickets. The next 500 or so access No.1 Court. The 1,000 to 1,500 bracket gets No.2 Court. Anyone after that receives a Grounds Pass (entry to all the outer courts and the full atmosphere of the complex).
Wristbands go out from around 7.30am. Ticket sales begin at approximately 9.45am, and the grounds open at 10am. Your Queue Card number is what matters, not exactly when you arrive after you have it.
You must download the myWIMBLEDON app and create an account before you arrive. It is required for Queue check-in. Do this in advance. Readers who turn up without one will be at a disadvantage.
When to arrive
This is the question that determines everything.
For Centre Court or No.1 Court in the first week: arrive the afternoon before. You will camp overnight. Overnight campers are woken by stewards between 5.30am and 6am, and left luggage storage opens at 5.30am (£5 for overnight items, £1 for others).
For any show court: aim to be in the queue by dawn.
For a Grounds Pass: early morning is usually enough. Later in the fortnight, as players are eliminated and demand drops, you can arrive later and still get in comfortably.
A practical signal: follow @ViewfromtheQueue on X. The account (fan-run since 2013) posts live queue numbers. If the count is heading toward 10,000 before gates open, do not expect a show court.
What it costs
Grounds Passes cost £33 on Day 1, falling to £21 later in the fortnight. That makes the Queue the cheapest way into one of the world’s most famous sporting events.
Centre Court tickets via the Queue cost £115 on Day 1. Prices rise through the fortnight as the field narrows and the matches get bigger. But here is the detail most people do not know.
From 3pm each day, spectators who are leaving sell their tickets back. Anyone already inside on a Grounds Pass can join a virtual queue for those returns: Centre Court seats go for £15, No.1 and No.2 Court for £10. The proceeds go to the Wimbledon Foundation. For anyone who makes it inside on a Grounds Pass, the afternoon resale is the route to the show courts.
The rules
The Queue has a code of conduct and stewards enforce it. The key points:
Tents are limited to two people. Gazebos are not permitted. No barbecues, open fires, or smoking. Music must stop at 10pm. If you leave the queue for more than 30 minutes, you lose your place. Food and takeaway deliveries are only accepted at the Wimbledon Park Road gate, before 10pm.
The gate times for pedestrians and cyclists are 6.30am to 10pm at the Revelstoke Road and Home Park Road entrances. The car park is closed during Queue operation.
Why people do it
There is a standard answer and a true one.
The standard answer is that the Queue is an egalitarian tradition. Anyone who turns up and waits long enough can sit in the same seats as the celebrities and royals in the adjacent boxes, for a fraction of the price. Centre Court via the Queue costs £115 on Day 1. The same seat via hospitality packages costs many times that.
The true answer is harder to explain. People queue because the Queue is itself the event. There is evidence of 5am queueing as far back as 1927. Harry Taylor, a hotel owner from Kent, has queued every year since 1992 (34 consecutive Championships). “The Queue is vastly more important than the tournament itself,” Charles Stubb told NPR in 2025. James Mendelssohn, the chief steward, has said he could do away with it. He hasn’t, because the culture it creates is part of what Wimbledon is.
One night on the grass, some strangers, and a numbered card. It is not complicated. It is just very British.
The park: what local residents should know
Wimbledon Park is public land, owned by the London Borough of Merton and hired to the All England Club each year under a commercial arrangement.
It’s not all joy and laughter: last year’s fortnight generated complaints from locals over antisocial behaviour, sanitation problems (The Wimbledon Poo), and grass damage. This year the AELTC has installed 108 mains-connected toilets, fed by a new sewer, and Horse Close Wood will be fenced off to protect it.
The infrastructure was set up starting Wednesday and should be removed by Thursday 16 July. Parking at Wimbledon Park is now charged at £1.20 per 20 minutes, in force since April.
We have covered the broader dispute over the park’s future, including residents’ attempts to negotiate with the AELTC before this year’s Championships, in detail. The full series is here.
What to bring
A good sleeping bag if you are going for a show court. Warm layers (nights in an open field get cold even in summer). Food and non-alcoholic drinks (alcohol is not permitted in the Queue overnight). A fully charged phone with the myWIMBLEDON app installed. Sunscreen for the following day.
Check @ViewfromtheQueue before you leave the house. If the numbers are manageable, go. If they are heading toward capacity, adjust your expectations, or adjust your target to a Grounds Pass and the afternoon resale queue instead.
The Queue opens at 2pm on Sunday 28 June. The Championships begin the following morning. There has never been a better time to try it.
Clarification, 28 June 2026: An earlier version of this article stated that Wimbledon Park is owned by two councils. That was incorrect. The park is owned by the London Borough of Merton. The Queue itself sits partly within the Wandsworth borough boundary, but ownership rests with Merton. We are grateful to a reader for pointing this out.
