Until City Padel Exeter opened, the nearest indoor padel courts for Devon players were one hour and forty-five minutes away in Bristol. That is a long way to go for a couple of hours on court.
Harry, one of the club’s co-founders, grew up in Exeter. He played padel for the first time in Portugal about six or seven years ago and spent years playing at London clubs like Rocks Lane before moving back to Devon in 2022. Finding the closest indoor courts were in Bristol made his intentions clear. “I was determined to bring the sport to our doorstep,” he says.
The result is a six-court indoor facility at Hill Barton Business Park on the eastern edge of the city – panoramic courts, a first-floor mezzanine gallery, a bar, and an on-site physio clinic. It is the best padel venue in the South West outside Bristol, and for most Devon players, it is now the only serious option they need.
At a glance
Address: Hill Barton Business Park, Clyst Saint Mary, Exeter
Courts: Six indoor panoramic courts
Court hire: Approximately £24–£44 per hour
Booking: Playtomic
On-site: Bar, mezzanine viewing gallery, physio clinic
Social sessions: Mon/Tue/Wed mornings, Fri evenings (Padel and Pint), Sat mornings
Coaching: Mon/Tue/Wed evenings; one-to-one lessons available
Website: citypadelexeter.com
How the club came about
Harry’s route into padel ownership started as a player, not a developer. He was living in London, playing at clubs across the city, and watching the sport spread from imported novelty to mainstream leisure activity. When he moved back to Exeter he went looking for courts and found nothing within reach.
The premises took time to find. “Despite taking a long time to find the right unit, when I walked into our current premises, I immediately knew it was perfect,” Harry says. He brought in Noel as a partner – a solicitor ranked in the top ten nationally in his age group in padel, and someone who has been involved in racket sports his whole life. The combination of Harry’s drive to build something and Noel’s playing knowledge shaped what the club became.
The facility is purpose-built in feel, even if it occupies a business park unit. Six panoramic courts, a mezzanine that fills up for tournaments, a bar, and an on-site physio make it a full-service venue. Harry is direct about the ambition: “We retain the feel of a family owned company but have the sophistication and end product of a national chain.”
What a week looks like at City Padel
City Padel runs structured social sessions six days a week, coaching courses three evenings a week, and a full junior programme – alongside open court hire.
The programme is built around the community first, with court utilisation following from that. Socials run on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Friday evenings have two Padel and Pint sessions. Saturday mornings have two more. Coaching courses run Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, with one-to-one lessons, introductory sessions, and levelling sessions spread across the week.
The Americano format is the most popular session type – a rotational doubles format where players cycle through partners across multiple matches, which Harry identifies as the main driver of why people keep coming back. “We try to make sure that the pairings are closely matched to make the games really fun, and that’s why people love it,” he says.
The social programme is not the only thread. City Padel hosts its own tournaments and runs LTA-sanctioned events at multiple grades, so players chasing ranking points have a venue in the South West that can host serious competition. A recent Grade 1 event drew the best players in the region, plus players from the rest of the UK and some from Europe. Harry describes the mezzanine being full of spectators all weekend, with the atmosphere that creates – a reminder that a viewing gallery is not decorative.
There are also Thursday morning sessions run by women for women, a junior programme including school holiday camps, and an International Women’s Day event that Harry says they plan to repeat and expand.
How Devon players have responded
City Padel Exeter opened into a region where demand had been there but nowhere to go – and players have responded at pace.
Harry did not entirely anticipate how many Devon players had been making the Bristol journey regularly. “I didn’t realise how many were driving regularly to Bristol to play, but they did, so I’m really grateful they have somewhere to play closer to home now,” he says.
The other surprise was players who had never touched a padel racket. Some had never heard of the sport before the club opened. Several of those are now playing two or three times a week. That conversion rate – from first session to habitual player – reflects something about how the club is structured. The social programme and coaching provision give new players a pathway in – they are not left to figure out open court hire on their own.
The feedback has been positive enough that the club holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating on PadelFinders from 43 reviews. Harry acknowledges that while the reception has been strong, he and Noel are not coasting on it: “We have very high ambitions and we are consistently looking to improve the club and the offering.”
What is coming next
The most significant news from City Padel is what is coming beyond Exeter. Harry mentions three new indoor sites in the pipeline – Taunton, Plymouth, and Cornwall – with the first of those opening at the end of April 2026. All three will include singles courts, which City Padel Exeter does not currently offer.
That expansion matters for South West padel broadly. A regional operator with four venues across Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall gives the area a meaningful padel infrastructure for the first time, creating the kind of network that supports player development, inter-club events, and regular travel between venues.
It also validates the original premise. Harry saw a gap in the South West, built a club to fill it, and is now growing into the surrounding region. For Devon and Somerset players, that is a meaningful shift.
Practical information
Address: Hill Barton Business Park, Clyst Saint Mary, Exeter Courts: Six indoor panoramic courts Court hire: Approximately £24–£44 per hour, depending on time slot Booking: Playtomic Social sessions: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday mornings; Friday evenings (Padel and Pint); Saturday mornings Coaching: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday evenings; one-to-one lessons available throughout the week On-site: Bar, mezzanine viewing gallery, physio clinic Website: citypadelexeter.com
If you are new to the sport and are not sure what to expect from your first session, your first month of padel covers what the learning curve tends to look like and how to get the most from social sessions in the early weeks. For anyone playing padel outside London for the first time, the padel outside London guide covers how the regional club scene compares.