O R Tambo Recreation Ground

Facilities and things to do

Facilities

O R Tambo Recreation Ground has:

• a basketball court
• a café 
• football pitches – book a football pitch on O R Tambo Playfinder website
• a multi-use games area
• a playground (closed for refurbishment)
• table tennis table
• tennis courts (for adults and children) – book a tennis court on the Pavilion website
• toilets

Pavilion Sports and Café

The much-loved Pavilion provides a community focal point often used for meetings and parties.

It’s home to Haringey Tennis, an organisation that manages and takes bookings for the Rec’s tennis courts.

Visit the Pavilion Sports and Café website to find out about the Pavilion and to see what’s on.

Get involved

The park has a volunteer group set up in 2001 called Friends of O R Tambo Recreation Ground. The volunteers all have a keen interest in improving the park and involving the local community.

To contact the group, see our list of Friends of Parks groups. Please note, they're still using the old park name of Albert Road Recreation Ground.

Planned improvements

We want to turn the play area into a space which:

• is accessible to all
• can adapt to different weather extremes
• offers shade and shelter
• improves access to the nature garden

To have your say on the plans on the Commonplace website. 

Park management 

To find out how the park is managed see our park management reports page.

Green Flag Award 

First awarded the prestigious Green Flag Award in 2006, the park has kept it ever since. 

To ask for a copy of the Green Flag report see our parks report page.

History

A century ago, the Rec was an area of land with a brook running through it and no housing nearby. The land around it was developed in the 1900s for housing.

In 1925, the Rec changed from an informal open space to a formal recreation ground.

Oliver Tambo

Previously known as Albert Road Recreation Ground, on 9 February 2021 the park was renamed O R Tambo Recreation Ground. This was in memory of the world-renowned South African anti-apartheid campaigner, Oliver Reginald Tambo.

Oliver Tambo lived in Haringey in exile for over two decades, settling with his family in Muswell Hill.

The South African High Commission gifted Haringey a bronze bust and statue of him which sits proudly within the Rec.

Report a problem

Report a park issue on our report a problem page.