About the club

A squash club shaped by
a hundred and forty-five years.

Hampstead Squash Club was founded in the spring of 1881 by fifteen residents of Frognal who, having grown impatient with the queues at Marylebone, leased a strip of land above the Vale of Health and built two of London’s earliest purpose-laid courts behind a single white pavilion.

Three generations later, we’re still member-run, still proudly amateur, and still happy to lend you a racket if you’ve forgotten yours. Subscriptions begin at £42 a month, with a two-week trial available year-round.

The pavilion was rebuilt after the war. Glass back walls were retrofitted in 1986; the floors re-sprung in 2024. The kitchen garden has been tended by the same family since 1953. The clubhouse cat, Lady Catherine, has been with us since 2017.

Our heritage

A short history of Hampstead Squash.

  1. 1881

    Frognal Meadow

    Two of London’s earliest purpose-built squash courts and a single white pavilion the size of a garden shed. The first match — Frognal vs Vale of Health — is settled at one game apiece, owing to a cracked racket and a missing tin.

  2. 1929

    The third court

    A boom in interest after the formation of the Squash Rackets Association inspires a third court, built into the southern wing. The plasterer is a cousin of one of the founders, recently returned from Italy.

  3. 1947

    Pavilion rebuilt

    The original pavilion is lost to a wartime incendiary; rebuilt in 1947 by an architect-member, mostly with reclaimed wood. The bell from the old pavilion is salvaged and rings to this day.

  4. 1986

    Glass back walls

    All five courts retrofitted with glass back walls — a then-novel idea borrowed from the professional tour. The committee minutes record one resignation and three new members within a fortnight.

  5. 2009

    PAR scoring adopted

    The club moves to point-a-rally scoring across the internal box leagues, two years after the PSA Tour does the same. The veterans grumble; the juniors beat them anyway.

  6. 2024

    Refit & re-spring

    Floors re-sprung, library refitted, kitchen garden brought back, and faster Wi-Fi than the kettle. The committee minutes from this year are, at last, kept in a spreadsheet.

The full archive lives in the clubhouse library. Members are warmly invited to add to it.