Wimbledon Strawberries and Cream: the maths behind a tradition

Strawberries and cream is the unofficial national dish of the Wimbledon Championships. Every guest at Wimbledon will see them being eaten somewhere; most guests at Wimbledon will eat them themselves. The tradition has been part of Wimbledon since the early years of the meeting, which started in 1877. The numbers behind the modern operation are eye-catching.

In 2017, Wimbledon served around 34,000 kilograms of British strawberries (around 33 imperial tons) and 10,000 litres of cream across the fortnight. In 2019, the Club served 191,930 portions of strawberries and cream. This is what those numbers look like up close.

A short history

The Wimbledon strawberries-and-cream tradition pre-dates the Championships and is older than the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The most widely repeated origin story places the combination at Cardinal Wolsey's table at Hampton Court in the early 16th century, served to King Henry VIII. Whether the king actually ate it or whether the cook was promoted is lost; the story is.

The connection to Wimbledon specifically begins in the late Victorian era. By the time the All England Club staged its first Championships in 1877, strawberries were in season in late June and early July across southern England, English summer fruit was the right way to feed a polite crowd at a tennis meeting, and the combination of red fruit and yellow cream was already a Victorian summer-party staple. Wimbledon adopted it; it has not since stopped.

Different years and different sources put the formal start of the Wimbledon supply at different dates: the early 1880s is the period most often cited, but the Club itself has not published a single founding year. What's clear is that by the Edwardian era the strawberries-and-cream stall was as much a part of Wimbledon as the tennis.

The numbers

The published consumption figures from recent Championships give the clearest sense of the scale.

Consumption figures

2017: around 34,000 kg of strawberries (about 33 imperial tons) and 10,000 litres of cream across the fortnight. That's roughly 2.4 tonnes of strawberries a day, served across the All England Club's outlets and hospitality areas.

2019: 191,930 portions of strawberries and cream served across the fortnight. Across opening hours, that lands at roughly a thousand portions an hour.

Per-portion math

A standard portion is around ten strawberries with a single pour of cream. At a strawberry-weight of around 14 grams, that's 140 grams a portion. Across 191,930 portions in 2019, that's about 27 tonnes of fruit going into portions alone. The rest of the 33-tonne haul ends up in Hill picnics, hospitality dishes, the bar at the Lawn, and the kiosks across the grounds.

Pricing

Pricing has shifted over the years and the Club tends to hold the strawberries-and-cream price down for as long as it reasonably can. For most of the 2010s the portion was £2.50; the 2020s have seen it move with general inflation. Wimbledon's commercial discipline is that the strawberries are a tradition rather than a profit centre.

Where the strawberries come from

The Wimbledon strawberries are grown in Kent, the historic centre of British soft-fruit growing. Hugh Lowe Farms in Mereworth, Kent has been widely reported as the Club's main supplier for several decades. The farm has the scale (one of the larger UK strawberry producers), the proximity (around 31 miles from Wimbledon by road) and the variety control to deliver the volume the Championships need.

The supply operation runs daily across the fortnight. Strawberries are picked the day before they are served and delivered to Wimbledon overnight. They arrive at the grounds between four and seven in the morning, are inspected, hulled (the leaves removed) and re-graded for size and ripeness, then distributed across the outlets in time for the morning opening.

The variety used at Wimbledon is typically a British strawberry bred specifically for the late-June and early-July window: Malling Centenary is the most-cited cultivar in recent reporting. It is sweet, holds shape well after picking, and ripens to a particular Wimbledon-photograph red. Other varieties are used as the season's weather demands.

The math behind each portion

A portion of Wimbledon strawberries and cream is, by 2020s convention, around ten strawberries plus a generous pour of double cream in a small punnet with a wooden fork. The strawberries are hulled and laid out in the punnet; the cream is poured by a server at the till; the portion is built to order.

Why ten strawberries? It's a working compromise. Eight feels skimpy, twelve gets expensive at the wholesale price of premium British strawberries, ten lands at the right cost-to-volume ratio and looks generous in the punnet. The number has been a working convention rather than a published standard for years.

Why double cream? Single cream pours too thin; whipped cream looks cloud-like and would dominate the strawberry. The Wimbledon convention has been double cream (around 48 per cent fat) for as long as anyone has documented it. The supplier varies by year; the cream itself is reliably British.

Why the punnet? Wimbledon is a walking meeting. A handheld punnet means you can eat your strawberries on the move between courts, or on the grass at the Hill, without tethering yourself to a table. The punnet has been Wimbledon's serving vehicle for decades and has survived every push for plastic reduction so far.

How to order them

Strawberries and cream are sold at multiple outlets across the Wimbledon grounds. The largest and best-known is the Wimbledon Food and Drink area near the main concourse. There are smaller punnet-bar outlets near most of the show courts and several kiosks across the grounds. Queues are longest around the lunch and tea breaks.

Hospitality guests get plated strawberries and cream in the restaurants (The Wingfield Restaurant, The Lawn, The Renshaw) included in their package; debenture-seat holders get a similar plated version in their respective lounges. Royal Box guests are served plated strawberries in the Clubhouse with their lunch.

Strawberries on the Hill (Aorangi Terrace) is the most photographed Wimbledon-strawberries moment: a sunny afternoon, a picnic blanket, a punnet of strawberries and cream, the big screen, a Pimm's in the other hand. It is the picture that sells Wimbledon to overseas viewers as much as the tennis itself.

A short note on the cream

Wimbledon's cream supply runs to around 7,000 litres per fortnight as a rough working number (the 2017 published figure was 10,000 litres). It is whole double cream, served chilled, poured generously over the strawberries at the till.

Other condiments do not get the same treatment. Wimbledon does not formally serve strawberries with sugar, with ice cream, with yoghurt, or with any other accompaniment. The Club's catering position has been that strawberries-and-cream is two ingredients, full stop, and adding a third is not the British way to eat them in summer.

If you want to do it at home for a Wimbledon-watching afternoon, the recipe is essentially the Club's: hull the strawberries, slice in half if they are large, pile in a small dish, pour double cream over them, eat immediately. Optional addition: a small grind of black pepper, which is a Victorian convention that has fallen out of regular use but improves the dish.

What guests do with the strawberries

There is a Wimbledon tradition that the first portion of strawberries and cream on Centre Court is photographed by the Box; the photograph travels home with the guest. The Hill is the picnic version of the same shot. The Royal Box version is the plated one in the Clubhouse, with a glass of champagne next to the punnet.

The most common guest mistake is buying the strawberries early in the day and then putting them in a bag until the evening. Wimbledon strawberries are at their best in the half-hour after they are served. They do not travel home well; the photograph travels home better than the food does. Buy them, eat them, repeat as many times across the day as feels appropriate.

Why it all keeps working

The Wimbledon strawberries-and-cream operation is held in place by three things. First, a single supplier with the scale to deliver volume daily across two weeks of unpredictable demand. Second, a Club commercially disciplined enough to keep the price down so that it remains an everyman tradition rather than a hospitality privilege. Third, a British summer fruit season that aligns by happy coincidence with the only fortnight every year that the world's media pays attention to British strawberries.

Almost 150 years on from the first Championships, the strawberries-and-cream operation moves 33 tonnes of fruit through south-west London in fourteen days. The dish hasn't changed; only the volume has.