Welcome back to your weekly UK padel news digest! It’s been another action-packed week for the sport, with big infrastructure announcements, a GB star continuing her winning streak abroad, and some eye-opening data about just how fast padel is growing across Britain. Here’s everything you need to know.
📊 UK Padel Participation Soared 125% in 2025
If you needed any more evidence that padel is Britain’s fastest-growing sport, the numbers are now in — and they’re extraordinary. According to new data from Playtomic, the world’s leading padel booking app, the number of UK players booking courts rose from 76,695 in January 2025 to 172,564 by December — growth of approximately 125% across the calendar year.
The infrastructure to match is there too. Active padel clubs on Playtomic’s UK platform jumped from 129 to 288 during the year, while total courts more than doubled from 529 to 1,130. Monthly court bookings surged from around 140,000 to over 360,000 — more than 2.5 times growth in twelve months. Remarkably, the UK now ranks as the most social padel nation in the world on the platform, with Open Match bookings (games with strangers) doubling to around 90,000 per month by December. London leads nationally by player numbers, but the data makes clear this is no longer a London story — padel is going nationwide.
Source: The Padel Paper
🏗️ Pure Padel Breaks Ground on UK’s First Purpose-Built Padel Warehouse
Pure Padel has officially started construction on what is set to be the UK’s first purpose-built padel warehouse — a 40,000 sq ft, 10-court facility at Gosforth Business Park in Newcastle. The venue will feature a tournament-grade show court, a hospitality-led clubhouse with café and licensed bar, corporate event spaces, and dedicated coaching areas.
This will serve as Pure Padel’s first Centre of Excellence, and is expected to open in December 2026. Founder and CEO Sammy Arora said: “Gosforth is a hugely important project for us. This will be the UK’s first purpose-built padel warehouse and our first Centre of Excellence, which makes it incredibly exciting.” The club will operate on Pure Padel’s pay-to-play model with LTA-qualified coaches on-site. Huge news for padel fans in the North East.
Source: The Padel Paper
🏙️ Rooftop Padel Fever: Sutton Coldfield Enters the Race
The race to open the UK’s first rooftop padel club just got a lot more interesting. Following last week’s announcement of True Padel’s plans for a rooftop venue above the Beacon Shopping Centre in North Shields, Birmingham City Council has now granted planning permission for four padel courts on the rooftop of the Gracechurch Shopping Centre multi-storey car park in Sutton Coldfield.
The plans include courts, a clubhouse, a fitness club, a restaurant area, and an outdoor terrace — all enclosed in a 5.2m net to keep balls safely on court. Fifteen jobs will be created, and the club is set to be open seven days a week. With True Padel’s North Shields venue still awaiting planning approval, Sutton Coldfield currently appears to be favourite to open its doors first. Two rooftop padel venues in the pipeline in one week — that’s progress.
Source: The Padel Paper
🏆 Player Spotlight: Aimee Gibson Claims First FIP Title of 2026 in Doha
GB women’s number one Aimee Gibson is already off to a flying start in 2026. The London-born player teamed up with Spanish partner Alba Perez Momha to win the FIP Bronze event in Doha, Qatar, without dropping a single set on their way to the final. Their route to the title included dominant wins over Spanish, Japanese, and Italian pairs before beating Mexican duo Camila Ramme in the final.
Gibson, currently ranked 90 in the world and coached by Sebas Mendonca and Mikel Ormaechea, has confirmed she’ll partner Perez Momha “for the rest of the season” — a pairing that already delivered back-to-back FIP titles at the end of 2025. It’s her fourth FIP title with Alba, and with the season just getting started, the future looks very bright for British padel’s top female player.
Source: The Padel Paper | LTA Padel
🛋️ From Sofa to Smash: A Fresh Approach to Getting People Active
In one of the most heartwarming stories of the week, Smash Padel in Bicester has launched a programme called ‘Sofa 2 Smash’ — adapting the NHS’s much-loved Couch to 5k model for the padel court. The eight-week programme was piloted before Christmas by LTA Level 2 coach Annabelle Denly, who also has a background in NHS mental health services.
Six participants completed the pilot, and the results were genuinely impressive: improvements in mental wellbeing, self-reported health, physical activity, and reduced sedentary behaviour were all recorded. Smash Padel worked with Cherwell District Council and local charities like Active Oxfordshire to recruit players. One participant, Gemma Bridges, said: “I suffer with mental health issues and find it very difficult meeting new people. But from the very beginning, we were all at the same sort of level.” This is exactly the kind of community-led initiative that makes padel more than just a sport.
Source: The Padel Paper
🏴 LTA Wales Padel Roadshows Head Out Across Wales
Tennis Wales has announced its 2026 roadshow series, designed to bring the tennis and padel community together across Wales. The events aim to celebrate local successes and offer practical support to clubs and coaches looking to grow both sports in their communities. The roadshows reflect the LTA’s continued investment in broadening padel’s reach beyond England’s major cities — a welcome push for the sport’s grassroots development.
Source: LTA.org.uk
⚙️ FIP Confirm Rule Changes to the Padel Serve in 2026
The International Padel Federation (FIP) has confirmed changes to the rules of the padel serve for 2026. The new regulations are designed to address inconsistencies in how the serve has been interpreted at elite and club level. The full details have been published by Padel Magazine — if you’re a regular player, it’s worth brushing up on what’s changing before you hit the court this season.
Source: Padel Magazine UK
What a week it’s been for UK padel — record participation data, rooftop venues racing to open, a GB star winning in Qatar, and a heartwarming grassroots initiative in Bicester. The sport is growing at every level, from elite international competition down to community programmes helping people off the sofa and onto the court.
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See you next week! 🎾
