About the club

A tennis club shaped by
a hundred and forty-five summers.

Hampstead Lawn Tennis 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 meadow above the Vale of Health and rolled it flat by hand.

Three generations later, we’re still member-run, still proudly amateur, and still happy to lend you a racquet 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. The grass courts were replanted in 1962 — and again in 2009. 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 Lawn.

  1. 1881

    Frognal Meadow

    Two grass courts hand-rolled by founder members and a single white pavilion the size of a garden shed. The first match — Frognal vs Vale of Health — is settled by stumps owing to a lost ball.

  2. 1929

    The clay arrives

    Wimbledon’s rising popularity inspires our first clay court — a present from members for the club’s 40th. The clay is laid by 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. 1981

    Centenary year

    A royal patron in attendance for the centenary doubles, a tournament that ran to ten o’clock, and a hog-roast remembered fondly to this day. The trophy in the hallway is from this year.

  5. 2024

    Refit & replant

    Acrylic court resurfaced, 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.

Court& Co.