Hammersmith & Fulham has refurbished the basketball and tennis courts at Hammersmith Park in White City.
As well as resurfacing and painting, the upgrades in the South Africa Road park have also reconfigured the three courts to provide more room for the basketball courts which were previously very close against the fence.
New basketball posts, backboards and hoops have also been installed, as well as new tennis nets and fixings.
Cllr Sharon Holder, H&F Cabinet Member for Public Realm, said:
Hammersmith Park will now be a main attraction for sports fans in W12. The fantastic refurbishment of the tennis and basketball courts – just next door to the modern Powerleague astroturf football pitches and the new WEST youth centre – makes this part of Shepherds Bush a great place to workout and enjoy.”
Two additional gates will improve accessibility for the courts, and we have also put in new perimeter fencing on the three edges which borders the football pitches.
These works are part of our ongoing improvements across parks, which also saw a new outdoor gym installed in Hammersmith Park.
To visit Hammersmith Park, visit South Africa Road W12 7FW – see a Google Map here.
History
White City was built in the early 1900s on 140 acres of land as a grand exhibition site, first used for the Franco-British exhibition in 1908. It was constructed in steel and concrete and painted white, hence the name 'White City', and a stadium was added for the 1908 Olympic Games.
In 1910, a major exhibition was held in celebration of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902-1923) with the backing of the Japanese government. Among the exhibits were two gardens, which were constructed for the 1910 exhibition with materials imported from Japan and by a mixed Anglo-Japanese workforce. The Garden of Peace featured a long pond with a large waterside teahouse, whereas the Garden of the Floating Isle featured a circular moat surrounding a hilly island.
The Japan-British Exhibition ran from 14 May to 29 October 1910 and attracted 8 million visitors, at a time when few people travelled outside Britain.
The exhibition site was gradually redeveloped. The White City housing estate was built in the 1930s and the BBC television studios in 1960.
The Garden of Peace was converted into a more traditional British public park and named 'Hammersmith Park'. The Japanese garden is the oldest publicly owned Japanese garden in the UK.
Tiny Forest
London’s first-ever ‘Tiny Forest’ was planted in Hammersmith Park in 2021.
Planted in partnership with Earthwatch Europe and Brook Green-based global drinks mixer brand Fever-Tree, the tiny forest will be a dense, fast-growing woodland consisting of 600 trees and shrubs planted in an area the size of a tennis court.
It will join a future collective of more than 3,000 tiny forests around the world, preserving biodiversity and reconnecting people with nature.
