Day Tickets 2️⃣
【Overnight Queue, or Camping】
Right then, to round off this series of articles, I’d like to talk about the ‘Overnight Queue’—Wimbledon’s famous camping queue.
The queues at Wimbledon tend to get longer every year. Until just a few years ago, you could turn up in the afternoon on the day itself and get in with hardly any wait; or, if you went to the ticket office, you might find people with return tickets to offer for show courts. However, such luck is now a rare occurrence. If you’re aiming for the show courts, particularly Centre Court, staying overnight is almost a necessity. So, in this post, I’d like to share some tips on camping in a Q&A format.
🎾Q1. When and where should I go?🎾
The location is the same as when queuing on the day itself: ‘the Queue’. As for the timing, just as I mentioned in my previous blog post, it depends on which day of the event it is and what the weather is like. The official website states, ‘Please do not arrive before 2 pm the day before’, but if you stick strictly to that, you won’t stand a chance of getting into the Show Courts. The first day is particularly popular, so some people even start queuing two days in advance. In 2024, when the weather was generally poor, it was fine to start queuing in the evening, so in 2025, when I started queuing just after 4 pm the day before, my Queue Card number was 1467! I just about managed to make it in time for No. 2 Court.
🎾Q2. Is it OK to leave the queue temporarily?🎾
You must not leave the queue under any circumstances until you have received your Queue Card. This is because they generally only issue one card per person present; even if you say, ‘My companion has just gone to the toilet’, strict staff members may be reluctant to let you have another card.
Once you have received your Queue Card, you are permitted to leave the queue to go to the toilet or buy food. However, the guideline is ‘around 30 minutes’.
Some people suggest booking a nearby hotel and sleeping there overnight, but this is essentially a ‘breach of the rules’.
Staff patrol the area throughout the night (especially in the early hours), and they may remove you from the queue if your tent remains empty for too long. Although this is rare, it’s best not to take the risk. You wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly in a hotel if you were constantly worrying that a member of staff might come round, would you? If a tent remains empty for a while, staff may ask people nearby, ‘Is the occupant of this tent actually here?’ If you’ve exchanged a few words with the people in front and behind you in the queue, you can ask them, ‘If a member of staff comes by, please tell them I’ve gone to buy some food,’ when you need to leave the queue for a while.
🎾Q3. What should I bring?🎾
~Essential items and useful extras~
🎾Essential items
- Tent, sleeping bag, camping mat, etc.
Even though it’s July, nights in London get chilly. As you’ll be ‘sleeping rough’ on the grass, keeping warm is essential. Even in 2025, when it was record-breakingly hot, the nights turned quite cool. There were people who brought just a tent, just a sleeping bag, or just a mat, but they seemed having a pretty tough time. - Mobile phone power bank
This is also absolutely essential. As mentioned earlier, everything from ticket management to other tasks is done via the app. If your phone runs out of battery, you won’t be able to do anything. Incidentally, there is a small hut called the ‘Internet Hub’ set up in Queue Village, but as so many people use it, the connection is very poor. A portable Wi-Fi device would also be handy.
🎾Nice to haves
- Sanitising wipes, tissues, etc. (for the toilet)
- Earplugs (Voices carry a long way in the open space. You can hear conversations taking place quite a distance away as if they were right next to you. If you want a good night’s sleep, you’ll need to take measures to block out the noise).
- Water bottle: You can refill your bottle at the water fountains within the village. There are also fountains dotted around the venue.
- A jacket or similar for keeping warm
Q4. Are there any places to eat?
There are a few food stalls set up within the village (as mentioned on the official website), but these are for breakfast and are only open from early morning until around midday. What’s more, they are very expensive, so be prepared to pay around £25 for a burger and a drink. So, here are some alternatives:
- Buy food from a supermarket or bakery beforehand.
- Walk to a nearby town to buy food – there are several restaurants offering takeaway (in the UK, it’s called ‘takeaway’, not ‘take out’) about a 10-minute walk away.
- Order delivery via Uber Eats or Deliveroo. It’s handy to have the Uber Eats or Deliveroo apps installed. Restaurants in the Wimbledon area all know exactly where to deliver, so you can order with confidence. Please specify ‘Wimbledon Park Road Gate’ as the delivery address (deliveries to any other location are prohibited). The app will show the driver’s current location, so when they are approaching, go to the gate to collect your order.
- For simple snacks, fruits or sandwiches, you can buy them at the corner shop just outside the Revelstoke Road Gate.
Recommendation for restaurants and shops near The Queue
🍕Franco Manca (Southfields, Wimbledon) A pizza chain popular for its thin-crust pizzas.
🇲🇽Wahaca, Wimbledon A Mexican tapas chain. They offer vegetarian options and specialise in healthy tapas.
🥖GAIL’S Bakery, Southfields A chain of upmarket bakeries. It’s a bit on the pricey side, but they offer a wide variety of sourdough baguette sandwiches, open sandwiches and pasties.
🍝The Olive Garden: A casual Italian restaurant. The pasta is highly recommended.
🇻🇳Pho Wimbledon: A Vietnamese restaurant. If you’re looking to keep costs down, this is the place! They deliver pho with the noodles, soup and toppings separated into individual containers, so you don’t have to worry about the noodles getting soggy.
🎾Q5. What about toilets and showers?🎾
There are no showers. There are two types of toilet facilities available.
One consists of three or four cubicles inside a container, which also has a hand-washing area. This is where you wash your face and brush your teeth.
The other is a temporary flush toilet, of which there are a great many.
However, the condition of both deteriorates over time.
In particular, the simple flushable temporary toilets become rather unpleasant to use just a few days after the first day. As there is nowhere to wash your hands in these, wet wipes are essential.
🎾Q6. What should I do with my luggage?🎾
There are two left-luggage facilities: one inside the Queue Village and one just outside the venue. They will store your belongings for £1 each. The system is that you leave items such as tents and sleeping bags here and collect them on your way out. Staff will come to wake you up around 5 am, so you’ll need to pack up your tent and sleeping bag and take them to the left-luggage facility. However, if you’re late, the queues here can get very long, so it’s best to drop your luggage off as early as possible.
Although the official limit is a carry-on sized suitcase, in practice they were accepting larger items as well.
Recycling Tents and Sleeping Bags
Quite a few campers choose to ‘leave behind’ their used tents, sleeping bags and mats.
Tents and other items left in the queue are collected by staff using buggies.
You can also take them yourself to the ‘Tent Donation’ area set up next to ‘Left Luggage’.
You might think these are all damaged or worn-out tents, but in fact, there are quite a few new ones still with their tags attached. As one- or two-person tents can be bought for a few 10s sterling, some people simply leave them behind because they find it a hassle to drop them off and pick them up before heading home.
From the second day onwards, it’s not out of the question to make use of these tents rather than bringing your own (though you can’t always be sure of finding one in good condition).
In this blog, we have endeavoured to provide as comprehensive and, above all, accurate a guide as possible on how to obtain Wimbledon tickets; however, there may be some omissions or discrepancies with the latest information.
Please feel free to share any comments, questions or requests—including any specific topics you would like to see covered—
via the comments section on the ‘Qualifying’ page of this series.
💕Hope these articles will be of use for you