PICNIC hampers laden with champagne, elegant cutlery and enough fine food to sustain the spirit through British defeats and rain delays are an integral part of the Wimbledon experience.

But yesterday they became the latest victim of a security clampdown that had fans decanting carefully prepared lunches into carrier bags on the first day of the championships.

Stewards warned those queueing in scorching sunshine that cool boxes, hampers and briefcases were banned. Police and security officials fear that weapons could be smuggled into the tournament in hard-sided bags. Even large soft-sided bags are no longer allowed.

The crackdown, part of a large and deliberately visible security presence, came as police admitted that they were under scrutiny from Olympic officials.

The venue is a key part of the 2012 bid, on which the International Olympic Committee is due to decide in a few weeks.

The experiences of the picnickers on a sun-drenched Henman Hill, however, suggested that the rules had been enforced rather haphazardly.

Pam and Philip Newland, from Skegness, Lincolnshire, were angry at the new security measures. “We’re civilised people, you know. We’ve had to leave our wicker picnic hamper outside, and all our knives and forks, so we’re eating chicken in barbecue sauce, shelled prawns, Scotch eggs and salad with our hands,” Mrs Newland said.

“They even took our corkscrew so we can’t open our wine. I haven’t got the imagination to do anything nasty with a corkscrew but I’d have a go if they told me now.”

It was, her husband added gloomily, “just about the worst thing that’s happened to us since the Germans bombed our chip shop”.

To add insult to injury Mrs Newland said that she had not been body-searched at all and could easily have smuggled a weapon in about her person.

One university lecturer’s Pimm’s bottle was briefly impounded as an offensive weapon. Mark Denton, 36, said: “They gave it back but they never found my cheese knife.”

David Carr, 37, and Nicola Page, who was celebrating her 32nd birthday, were allowed to keep their cutlery after security searched their bags.

“The man ran his finger along the blades to check how menacing they were. Then he said we could keep them if we promised not to attack anyone. I think he took pity on us. If something bad did happen everyone would want to know why security wasn’t tighter. It’s a part of life these days.”

The crackdown on hampers was good news for Wimbledon’s catering outlets. At the champagne tent, bottles ranged from £41 to £55, or £10 a glass. Pimm’s sold at £16 for a jug.

Giva Hawkey, 62 and Remo Dillellio, 64, regular Wimbledon-goers who own a restaurant in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, were sharing a half-bottle of champagne. Ms Hawkey said: “The strawberries are fantastic but the champagne is overpriced — £45 a bottle is outrageous, so we’re having a half. We don’t like throwing money away.” Lunches on offer included a half-lobster at £26 and Scottish salmon for £15. Baguettes started at £4.

Jean Winter, 65, from Swindon, said: “We only buy sandwiches from the shop because everything in the restaurant is so expensive.”

The Metropolitan Police admitted that it had more officers on duty than last year but refused to disclose how many. It said increased security was needed after the number of arrests rose to 85 last year from fewer than ten the year before, because of the introduction of a “positive arrest” policy.

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