Middlesex University Real Tennis Club

The Middlesex University Real Tennis Club at The Burroughs, NW4 4BT, is one of Britain's 26 real tennis courts. The game is played with pear-shaped rackets and hand-stitched balls, with shots bouncing off penthouses and tambours. The court opened in October 1999 and draws a niche band of tacticians to its vault.

Hendon is a Greater London suburb of families in semis, students between lectures, and commuters heading to Hendon Central tube. The Burroughs cuts through the campus, flanked by fitness studios and floodlit MACS courts, with the real tennis club inside Burroughs Sports Club. Players arrive by Northern Line from central London or by bus from Brent Cross; campus lots fill on weekends, so public transport is the better bet. The atmosphere leans cerebral: professors plotting volleys, alumni reliving past matches, more strategy than power under the court's elliptical roof.

Real tennis rewards guile over power, and the irregular walls turn each rally into a puzzle unique to this court. The floor is floated concrete with a methacrylate sheen, the walls are Armourcoat plaster, and the penthouses are maranti plywood sloped like old market roofs. The court cost £1.5 million to build and has under-floor heating by Wirsbro, and a glazed Kal-Zip roof that delivers shadow-free daylight through London's wet winters. There is no casual walk-on: contact the club through the Tennis & Rackets Association for court time, lessons with resident pros, or society matches. Fees start around £20-£40 per session; pro coaching runs £50/hour. Beginners face a steep curve, but the coaches' video system feeds CCTV footage to a workshop screen and breaks each shot down frame by frame. In winter, the heating keeps the court playable; in summer, the terrace viewing gallery fills.

Campus lots off The Burroughs are free for short stays but fill with university traffic; public transport is more reliable, with Hendon station a 15-minute walk. London weather shifts fast, so layer for cold winds off the Welsh Harp reservoir. Before a game, the on-site cafe and bar sits in the social space west of the court; for more options, Hendon High Street is a five-minute walk, with The Hendon Kitchen for bacon butties and Rio's for flat whites.

Real tennis partners are as rare as the sport itself. Doyouplay lets you browse players in Hendon by skill level, from beginner to advanced, and set up games with a direct message. Recent movers will find the local scene open to introductions. One connection can lead to court time, a coaching tip, or a regular doubles partner.

Two decades on, the Middlesex court hosts World Doubles championships and draws players who value its vaulted form. Talk of closure for student space has circled it, but it holds on as a Hendon fixture, its walls carrying crafted shots from one generation to the next.