The challenge
Wimbledon Museum plays a distinctive role within the wider Wimbledon experience. It helps visitors explore the history of tennis, the story of The Championships, and the significance of one of the world’s most recognisable sporting venues.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club wanted to understand how different visitors experience the museum today and how the offer could continue to evolve in future. The research was designed to inform both immediate improvements and longer-term thinking, including potential capital redevelopment.
What we did
Elenya used a mixed qualitative approach to build a rounded picture of the visitor experience.
The research included:
- accompanied visits with target audience groups
- short interviews with museum visitors
- structured observation within the museum
- interviews with staff across relevant teams
This allowed us to understand what visitors noticed, where they spent time, what they valued most, and which parts of the experience felt most memorable.
What we found
The research showed that visitors value the museum as part of their Wimbledon visit. Many responded strongly to the museum’s objects, stories and behind-the-scenes detail, particularly where these helped bring the history and character of Wimbledon to life.
Physical artefacts, player stories, clothing, trophies and sensory details were especially effective. Visitors were often most engaged when the museum connected tennis history to human stories, personal memories and the distinctive atmosphere of Wimbledon.
The research also identified opportunities to make the experience even more engaging for families, local audiences and visitors with different levels of tennis interest. In particular, visitors responded positively to ideas that would make the museum feel more tactile, immersive and connected to the wider Wimbledon experience.
The outcome
The project gave the All England Lawn Tennis Club a clear evidence base to support future planning for the museum.
We developed a set of short, medium and long-term recommendations. These ranged from practical improvements to orientation, interpretation and visitor flow, through to medium-term opportunities around immersive and tactile experiences, family engagement and exhibition planning.
The work also helped shape longer-term thinking about the museum’s role, location, threshold and relationship with the wider Wimbledon site. This included consideration of how potential capital redevelopment could create a more welcoming, visible and joined-up visitor experience.
Overall, the research helped frame the museum’s future opportunity: to deepen visitors’ understanding of Wimbledon while creating an experience that feels memorable, welcoming and relevant to a wide range of audiences.
“The project has given us a much better understanding of our audience’s preferences and will allow us to plan a long-term strategy whilst also undertaking more immediate changes that are supported by solid evidence – it will be incredibly useful as we plot our way forward in terms of funding and priorities. We’ve really enjoyed working with you on the project so thanks for all your hard work.”