The best Wimbledon side-hustles! As the tennis world descends on SW19, enterprising locals begin their annual money-making tradition. TOBY WALNE sets out to discover which is most lucrative...
Wimbledon starts serving up Championship tennis today – offering an ideal opportunity for locals to earn some extra cash.
Every year, the people of the famous SW19 postcode can earn a healthy additional income through a variety of so-called 'side-hustles'.
These can range from earning thousands by renting out a home out to a player to much more small-scale enterprises such as selling strawberries and refreshments.
But which is best? Reporter Toby Walne puts on his Panama to discover more about the money-making masterstrokes and side-hustles being played.
Renting out your drive
Demand for private parking spaces increases by 600 per cent during the Wimbledon fortnight, according to the car park app YourParkingSpace. It is fueled by half-a-million tennis fans flooding into the area, many of them in a car.
Locals living within the magic ‘golden mile’ radius around the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club where the Championships are held typically charge between £10 and £20 a day for motorists to use their driveway as a private car park during the rest of the year.
Toby Walne poses in Wimbledon at the start of the summer championship to see which 'side-hustles' are most lucrative
But prices during Wimbledon can shoot up to £50 or more depending on how close your home is to the courts. A prime spot on Bathgate Road around the corner from the tennis grounds charges £125 a day on YourParkingSpace. While on Tilford Gardens a 20-minute walk away – and right on the fringes of the sought-after golden mile - you might still pick up a spot for £25.
On my visit, pay-for-parking locations are not obvious as most are booked online. But just outside St Mary’s Church, just a few hundred yards from the grounds, is an arrow and sign pointing to ‘tennis parking. All proceeds to church and other charities’. You would be charged £20 to park in its field, with space for a couple of hundred cars.
Wimbledon offers £40 parking at its own official car park – but spaces are limited and it must be pre-booked.
Local resident Jeremy Thomas, a huge tennis fan who only charges £7 for people to park on his driveway – which is a 25-minute walk to the Wimbledon club from his three-bedroom semi-detached property – says: ‘It is a win-win situation. I earn a bit of extra cash for doing nothing while fans get a cheap parking spot away from busy roads that often get crowded with traffic and people during the tournament.’
Jeremy signed up to JustPark a couple of years ago and the money is paid directly into his account without any need to even see the motorists on his drive.
Smartphone apps such as YourParkingSpace and JustPark are easy to sign up to as a customer – or homeowner with a spot that you want to rent out.
JustPark takes 3 per cent of the money paid by the customer as commission for the service while YourParkingSpace charges a 20 per cent fee to the driver of what the homeowner demands for using their driveway.
Letting out your home to fans - for a month
Websites such as Tennis London rent out one-bedroom flats for £2,000-a-week to four-bedroom houses for £6,000 during the Wimbledon fortnight – which are both within a 15-minute walk of the club. It says that facilities such as well as wi-fi and washing machines are essential. Tennis London adds you must be fully insured in case there is an accident or theft. It suggests considering an extra home-sharing insurance policy, such as that offered by Guardhog from £200-a-year. Wimbledon Tennis Lettings is another agent, where owners of a detached five-bedroom property can earn as much as £15,000-a-week if they are willing to rent out for a minimum of a fortnight.
Bridget Sharrad, of estate agent Robert Holmes in Wimbledon, says: ‘Renting out a property is not just for the tennis fortnight – as many clients want the week beforehand as well as a few days after the event. It means homes might often be rented out for a full month – rarely just a week. Many friends leave the area during Wimbledon, rent out their property and use the earnings to pay for a luxury holiday.’
Sienna Kelmendi, an agent for estate agent Jackson-Stops in Wimbledon, adds: ‘You can double the amount of rent charged during the tournament as so many people are desperate for somewhere to stay. But while you can often charge up to £10,000-a-week it is important to remember this includes full use of top-quality facilities and the owner is expected to pick up the tab for utility bills.’
One homeowner who rents out during Wimbledon, but wished to remain anonymous, explains that it is not just ‘easy money’ and views it as a commercial transaction. He says the property must be professionally cleaned for guests if you are charging a top rate. He says: ‘We are talking five-star hotel clean, not just a quick dust. And remove all personal items. This includes taking your nick-nacks out of the house and putting them in storage. You must make a detailed inventory of all the furnishings left inside.’
He suggests budgeting at least £200 for a professional cleaner and a further £300 – and lots of hard work – hiring a large van and putting items into storage.
Letting agencies typically take a 10 per cent cut of any earnings – pocketing £100 for every £1,000 earned.
Renting out your home to a tennis player can bag you a healthy sum, but they may have some very unusual requirements in mind, such as space for a cryogenic chamber
Renting your home out to... a tennis player
Being able to offer your home to a tennis professional does not earn you more money than renting to fans - but will bring the thrill of being actively involved in the Championships.
Acer Tennis Lettings rents out to players. The agency owner Jennifer Drysdale says: ‘Location is key – and the closer you are to the ground the more you charge. Players do not want to walk more than ten minutes. Peace and quiet are vital.’
She adds: ‘Players demand a good night’s sleep so need a comfortable bed, top quality clean sheets and ideally the option of air conditioning. Space for a massage table is also important. Some of the top players take ice baths or even want to install cryogenic chambers. They want to have lots of space.’
Drysdale also adds that athletes tend to be taller than most so there must also be plenty of headroom in a property and no low doors to avoid off-court accidents.
Opening up a spare bedroom
Another option for those living in the Wimbledon area is to let out a spare room through a service such as Airbnb. You can typically charge from £80-a-room per night for a home within a 20-minute walk of the venue – and £200 if providing separate living and bathroom facilities.
You need to ensure the place is kept spick-and-span even though you may be living in it at the same time – and provide details of photos for the website along with guest rules, such as if you cater to children and pets.
Airbnb typically charges a host fee of 3 per cent of the charge levied for staying at the property. You should also include a cleaning cost that can be added to the bill.
You can earn £7,500-a-year when tax-free renting a furnished room at home, but above this you must pay income tax and complete a self-assessment tax return.
It can be very profitable to buy your own strawberries and sell them to punters before they enter the grounds
Grow your own strawberries
Strawberries and cream have been a favourite at the club since 1877 – when the first tournament attracted 200 visitors. In Victorian England the tournament coincided with when strawberries come into season. The club sells 50 tonnes of strawberries (254,000 portions) and 15,000 litres of cream a year – charging £2.50 for a punnet.
A punnet typically includes ten strawberries picked 40 miles away at Hugh Lowe farm in Kent. Cream is free.
If you are an enterprising salesmen, and ideally green-fingered, you could sell your own fruit. You can pay £9.95 a kilo at pick-your-own outfit such as Gammas Hall Farm in Hertfordshire. These can hold 50 strawberries, so at £1.99 a punnet, it’s 51p less than inside the Wimbledon grounds.
Sales must be deemed ‘de minimis’ – something very trifling or of little importance – and just a ‘casual’ transaction that does not restrict access to the pavement. A ‘strawberries for sale’ sign in the garden should be fine but you should make it obvious you are a private seller, not a trader.
Selling refreshments
Visitors are welcome to bring their own food and drink into Wimbledon – but the baggage allowance is no more generous than a budget airline, measuring 40cm by 30cm by 30cm. Vacuum flasks can be 500ml in size but items such as picnic hampers, cool boxes and camping chairs are not allowed inside the security gates.
Entrepreneurial individuals occasionally sell drinks on the side of the street or in driveways as tennis fans make their way to the tournament. However, selling refreshments or souvenirs on the street requires you to have a Street Trading Licence, and you must apply to the local authority and hope that they will grant you one.
At the Checkout Off Licence shop in Wimbledon prices were competitive compared to inside the tennis club. A 330ml can of Coca Cola was £1.29 – compared to £2.60 inside the Wimbledon grounds. A 500ml bottle of Evian still water cost £1.05 in the office licence while a 750ml bottle of Evian still water is £2.95 inside the tennis club.
A full bottle of Pimm’s to mix with lemonade was £19.75 in the off-licence shop – enough to mix with lemonade to make 15 glasses of the Wimbledon favourite. Inside the grounds – where 341,000 glasses of Pimm’s are expected to be sold over the next fortnight, a glass of Pimm’s with lemonade costs £9.80.
Inside the nearby Rose & Crown pub a two-pint of Pimm’s with lemonade costs £25. The pub admits that it expects to ‘be rushed off its feet with Pimm’s sales’ in the next fortnight.
A Wimbledon spokesman says: ‘We work hard to put on a range of products to suit all budgets – and are proud that we are one of the few premium sporting events that stills allow guests to bring in their own food and drink.’
Official Panama hats inside Wimbledon can cost a fortune, so why not pick one up nearby for a fraction of the price?
Picking up a bargain off the courts
The atmosphere around Wimbledon village is transformed during the Championships, with images of racquets and balls in shop windows - and restaurants such as The Ivy Cafe decorating their exterior with giant strawberries and an oversized deckchair. The idea is to get people to stop and pause – and then spend money.
Inside the grounds of Wimbledon, you can buy an official ‘Brisa Mens Panama’ hat with an ‘exclusive’ green, purple and white striped hat band for £120. But a similar £65 Panama can be bought at a nearby Marks & Spencer.
The M&S in Wimbledon sells sandwiches, such as the Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Ploughman’s, for £3.30. The equivalent sandwich inside the grounds costs £4.95.
But despite all the colourful celebration for the area, with opportunities to make money, established businesses are also having to adapt for the tennis event.
Emma Holding, who runs The Stand Flowers stall in the heart of Wimbledon village with sister Nicola, says: ‘It may sound surprising, but our business suffers during Wimbledon as many locals move away because they are renting out their homes and going on holiday.’
She adds: ‘Yet we still do lots of flower bouquets costing from about £50 for decorating homes and even for Wimbledon events – making a bouquet for the tournament finalists.’