The courts are open in England today for the first time this year and Slazenger balls are at the ready.
Ralph and Albert Slazenger, from Manchester, started their business in Cannon Street, London, in 1881, making and selling sporting equipment for tennis and golf. Today their brand “has the longest sporting sponsorship in world history, thanks to its association with the Wimbledon Tennis Championship, providing balls for the tournament since 1902” (Wiki). The firm prospered, expanded and did its bit in WW II.
In 1959 Ralph Slazenger sold the business to Dunlop. Two years later his daughter married Mervyn Wingfield and he bought Powerscourt from Mervyn’s father, Viscount Powerscourt; her father-in-law.
Irish houses are often chilly and one too many log on the fire after lunch set a chimney ablaze in 1974 destroying the house. Gratifyingly it was re-built in the 1990s and still belongs to the family.
I wonder what the founding Slazenger brothers would think? “Powerscourt – now that’s a great name for a tennis ball.”
Powerscourt was rebuilt but inside is not restored.It is a shopping venue.But it does look impressive from outside.The front is such a contrast to the back