Ilkley

Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club · West Yorkshire, beside the River Wharfe

Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom · Members club

No. 12, World's Greatest Grass Clubs No. 15, Innovative Grass Clubs

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No. 12, World's Greatest Grass Clubs

The north of England's premier grass court tournament venue.

Scores out of 10: Surface Excellence 8, Historical Pedigree 9, Tournament Credentials 8, Scale & Facilities 7, Prestige & Exclusivity 8, Ecosystem Contribution 7.

See the World's Greatest Grass Clubs

No. 15, Innovative Grass Clubs

A strong grass base within a working club

Primary driver: Commitment & Stewardship

Read the full ranking and our reasoning

A Yorkshire members’ club whose open grass tournament began in 1885 and now leads into Wimbledon.

Location: Stourton Road, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, beside the River Wharfe
Founded: 1880; the first committee met on 20 February 1880
Grass courts: 13, alongside indoor and outdoor hard courts
On the grass: The Ilkley tournament, 1885 to 1981; the Ilkley Trophy from 2015, now the Lexus Ilkley Open
Also: The Yorkshire Championships, 1888 to 1890 and 1893
Other courts: hard
Season: Members
Address: Stourton Road, Grove Road, Ilkley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, LS29 9BQ, United Kingdom

Why it is special

Ilkley’s first committee met on 20 February 1880, and the club began with about six courts and a small green hut, inviting sixty families to join. Five years later it held its first open tournament, won by Edward Fletcher. The club staged the Yorkshire Championships four times between 1888 and 1893, and its tournament roll includes Joshua Pim, Wimbledon champion in 1893 and 1894.

The old open tournament ran until 1981, when it could not find new sponsors, and women’s ITF events followed in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2015 the club launched the Ilkley Trophy, a men’s Challenger with a women’s event, won first by Denis Kudla and Anna-Lena Friedsam; Daniil Medvedev played it in 2016 and David Goffin won it in 2024. Renamed the Lexus Ilkley Open in 2025, it added a WTA 125 women’s event the same year.

The club keeps thirteen grass courts on the banks of the Wharfe, sown with ryegrass and fescue, three of them used for the tournament each June. Ilkley shows a members’ club in a small Yorkshire town staging professional grass tennis while remaining a club, more than 140 years after its first open tournament.

About the club

Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club has served its community since 1880. Its facilities include grass and hard tennis courts, among them a 1400-seat stadium grass court, as well as squash and racketball courts and an outdoor padel court. Off court there is a fitness centre and a modern clubhouse with changing facilities, a sauna and a café bar. It is a members club in West Yorkshire.