Has Wimbledon Common lost its sense of escape from London?

Since 16 August 1871 Wimbledon Common has been an escape from a chaotic London, with thick woodlands, beautiful sunsets and natural lakes but has it been victim to modernisation with it losing some of its charm?

One of the major problems with Wimbledon Common is parking, especially at the windmill. Every resident of Wimbledon would have tried to park there at least once, and knows that it is no mean feat to find a space. Endless circling guessing if people are about to leave or are just about to being their walk. The amount of pollution from here is not something to over-look. There has been talks to introduce a parking charge to try and cover the cost of maintain the car park, recently introducing a donation system however very few people would be willing to donate unless compulsory, so it does not have much of an affect.

Another major problem is golf, golfers skip this paragraph! Frequent visitors of the common will be no stranger to the golfers, who have no care for the pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians. With the golf club growing in popularity due the imminent closure of the Wimbledon Park Golf Course it is becoming increasingly difficult to complete a walk on the common with out being interrupted at least once. With an average golf party of 4 this can often man a good few minute wait. Their ability is another problem! I have many times been walking through the wood and had a golf ball landing close to me, it gives you quite a fright!

Finally cycling. As an avid cyclist myself I am naturally a little biased. Since the start of the pandemic the rangers have shut path after path to cyclists which, in theory should have decreased cycling, has just concentrated the number of cyclists on to 2 paths. This is not good as you can guess, as it now means that you have all the cyclists pelting down the Windmill straight, causing much distress to pedestrians and their dogs!