Big Wimbledon wobblers

Seats at Wimbledon's Centre Court are to be widened to accommodate the expanding waistlines of spectators, it emerged today.

Complaints soared last year about fans unable to squeeze into the seats, which were installed in 1922 and are smaller than an economy seat on a British Airways plane.

Many complained to stewards that having paid large sums to watch top-seed matches, they spent most of the game in the lap of the person next to them.

The All England Lawn Tennis-Club will widen the seats by up to 10 per cent as part of a ?100 million development plan for the show court, which is expected to be approved by Merton council this month.

The original seats, measuring between 40 and 42cm including the metal framework that separates them, will be ripped out and auctioned off as memorabilia.

The new padded seats should be in place by 2009, together with a translucent, retractable roof on the Centre Court, which will open and close in less than 10 minutes.

The court's capacity will rise from 13,800 to 15,000, with six additional rows of seating. A wider choice of catering facilities, a museum and a more accessible ticket office are also planned.

Centre Court was opened by George V in 1922 and originally had a capacity of 14,000. Some seats were destroyed by bombing in 1940 and a further 3,600 seats were removed in 1992 because of their restricted view.