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Wimbledon chiefs are helping recession-hit tennis fans by freezing the price of strawberries at this year's Championships.
A punnet of 10 strawberries - one of the most popular snacks among spectators - will cost £2.25, the same as last year.
Grade 1 strawberries from farms in Kent are picked the day before being served, arriving at SW19 at about 5.30am where they are inspected before being hulled.
Last year's price rise of 25p was the first for five years, following a 2003 rise of 5p.
Wimbledon is the largest single annual sporting catering operation carried out in Europe, with 1,700 staff operating the numerous outlets. More than 2,000 kilos, or 8,000 punnets of strawberries are expected to be consumed daily during the fortnight, totalling 28,000kg.
Spectators are expected to work their way through 7,000 litres of fresh cream to accompany them.
Organisers expect overall to serve 12,000kg of poached and smoked salmon, 17,000 bottles of champagne, 100,000 pints of beer and lager, 30,000 portions of fish and chips, 135,000 ice creams and 300,000 cups of tea and coffee.
Figures have revealed the numbers of strawberries bought generally has dropped by nearly 10 per cent in a year. Retail analyst TNS claims this is because consumers are feeling the impact of the credit crunch.
