Local park tennis courts in Southwark being renovated

13 July 2023

Southwark Council and the LTA have announced a partnership to invest in and refurbish public park tennis courts in the borough. In total, seven park tennis venues will be renovated, with investment of £316,912 helping ensure that quality facilities are available for the local community.

The project is part of a nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people. This investment will see thousands of existing park tennis courts in poor or unplayable condition brought back to life for the benefit of communities across the country through renovation works, and improved court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems.

Park tennis courts are vital in providing opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering significant physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits to participants. Accessible facilities in parks are particularly critical to opening up the sport to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and women and girls.

In addition to investment of £270,170 from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, £46,742 will also be invested by Southwark Council.

Alongside the investment, Southwark Council and the operators of the tennis programme across the parks, will also work with the LTA to deliver a range of activity across the park sites. This will include weekly organised free park tennis sessions for all ages, playing levels and experience where equipment is provided, meaning that people will not need someone to play with or their own racket. Local Tennis Leagues will also provide friendly, sociable, opportunities to get active through local competition.

The park venues being renovated are: Belair Park, Brunswick Park, Burgess Park, Dulwich Park, Geraldine Mary Harmsworth, Honor Oak Recreation Ground and Southwark Park,  which will all be available to book online including via the LTA website https://www.lta.org.uk/play/book-a-tennis-court, making it far easier to find and book a court or activity. Launch events will take place at the following venues – Southwark Park on the 30 July, Dulwich Park on the 12 August.

All courts and sessions at all sites will be available to book online via the LTA website https://www.lta.org.uk/play.

Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, said: “We are delighted to be working with Southwark Council to improve their park tennis facilities and provide more opportunities for anyone to pick up a racket and get active. This investment is part of the UK Government and LTA’s Parks Tennis Project, and will mean that courts will be available for people to use for years to come. We will also be working closely with Southwark Council to ensure that the local community have a range of accessible opportunities to get on court, and open up our sport to many more people.”

Work on sites is anticipated to be completed by August 2023.

Page last updated: 13 July 2023