Row as Queen's chief exits

Mystery surrounds the impending departure of the secretary of The Queen's Club, home of the Stella Artois tournament.

Jonathan Edwardes is leaving his job after more than 20 years at one of London's most famous tennis clubs.

The future of the club is currently being decided by its owners, the Lawn Tennis Association.

The LTA are hoping to move to a £40million national tennis centre at Roehampton - still the subject of a planning application - which means Queen's would be sold.

One of the ramifications of this scenario has been the departure of Edwardes, who was dealing with John Crowther, the all-powerful LTA chief executive.

Edwardes's departure package is still being discussed, but the situation has led to considerable disquiet among members.

An LTA spokesman said: "Jonathan Edwardes is standing down as secretary of the club and the terms of his departure are being finalised."

For Grant Meyrick, the Queen's chairman, the club's future is paramount and the 4,000 members have been informed of possible outcomes.

Meyrick said: "Jonathan is standing down after more than 20 years. I don't believe this signals a breakdown between the Club and the LTA. We have had various meetings and the LTA's position is that they are considering their options with Queen's, which is an asset, and if the National Training Centre goes ahead then they would look at those assets.

"The members of Queen's are going to be given the opportunity to buy, but not through a preferential treatment. The Club is working on the methodology to be employed if the situation arose that the LTA decided to sell and invited the members to make a bid.

"The chances are that Queen's would remain as a sporting facility and the Stella Artois championship is very important in the run-up to Wimbledon and that would remain. The chance of the Club being turned into residences is pretty remote."

The question of what to do with Queen's comes at a time when the LTA's finances have taken a serious blow, due to the downturn in the stock market, with nearly £9m wiped off their reserves.

The LTA had built up a fall-back of listed securities that cost £22.8m but which now have a market value of just £13.8m.

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