Fury as charity axes court at pay-to-play tennis centre

Club: pupils at the trust
Alex Lentati
Matt Watts27 February 2017

A charity is under fire for axing a court at an open-access London tennis centre that is home to some of Britain’s best young players.

The Westway Trust is removing one of eight indoor courts at its Westway sports and fitness centre in Ladbroke Grove — said to be the city’s most popular “pay-to-play” tennis facility, with up to 100,000 users per year.

It counts among its visitors England football legend David Beckham and son Romeo, 14, who gets coaching there.

The UK’s top U-14 girls star Andrea Pineda and boys junior world deaf tennis champion Esah Hyatt are among the players at its Lawn Tennis Association-linked academy. But the charity that owns the site decided to remove an indoor court to make way for a gym as part of a £3.7 million refurbishment of the site in Crowthorne Road.

The Westway Trust and leisure firm Everyone Active, which runs the sports centre, says it wants to increase the number of people using it and vary its facilities, which include one of the UK’s highest climbing walls, two outdoor courts and eight football pitches.

More than 600 people have signed an online petition at change.org calling on them to reverse the decision.

Campaigner Vera Johnson, 47, whose three children play at the centre, said: “How can we find the next Andy Murray with fewer tennis courts?”

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