Kingston upon Thames has one dedicated padel venue, and it happens to be the cheapest court in London. If you’re searching for padel near Kingston station, the answer is short: Playtime Padel, riverside at the YMCA Hawker Centre, from £20 an hour with rackets and balls thrown in. This guide covers what it costs, how to book it, and what to do if it’s full.
The one court in Kingston
Playtime Padel’s Kingston site sits inside the YMCA Hawker Centre on Lower Ham Road, a short walk from the Thames and about 15 minutes on foot from Kingston station. It’s a single outdoor doubles court, and the site doesn’t pretend otherwise. What Kingston offers is one well-run court with a low barrier to entry.
That single-court reality shapes everything else in this guide. If you want variety – multiple courts, peak-time flexibility, a bigger social scene – you’ll need to look beyond the borough. If you want an easy, affordable way into the sport, Kingston does that well.
The court is outdoor and unlit, which means play is restricted to daylight hours. Opening times run Monday to Thursday 7am–9pm, Friday 7am–8pm, and weekends 8am–4pm – shrinking in winter as daylight does. There’s no floodlit evening slot to fall back on once the clocks go back, so plan around the season if you’re booking regularly.
How to book (and why it’s not Playtomic)
Most padel content in the UK defaults to assuming Playtomic, because it’s the platform most venues use. Kingston doesn’t. Playtime Padel Kingston books through Padel Mates, a separate app with its own account system, and if you turn up expecting to find the court on Playtomic you’ll come away confused.
Set up a free Padel Mates account before you plan to play – it takes a couple of minutes and saves a scramble at the last moment. The court also shows up on aggregator sites like Playskan, which will point you to Padel Mates to complete the actual booking rather than processing it directly. Either route works; just know you’re not going to book this one through Playtomic.
What it costs and what’s included
Kingston’s pricing runs in three tiers rather than one flat rate:
| Time slot | Price per hour |
|---|---|
| Weekday off-peak | £20 |
| Weekday evening | £30 |
| Weekend | £40 |
Split four ways for a standard doubles game, the weekday off-peak rate works out at £5 a head – about as cheap as padel gets anywhere in London. Every tier includes rackets and balls at no extra charge, which is the detail that matters most for anyone new to the sport. Most venues either charge separately for equipment hire or expect you to own a racket already; Kingston removes that cost and that decision entirely. Show up, book, play.
Getting there and parking
Kingston is well served by rail from London Waterloo, with the YMCA Hawker Centre a walkable 15 minutes or so from the station along the riverside. For anyone driving, the venue has a large free car park – worth flagging because free on-site parking is rare at London padel venues, most of which charge for parking or offer none at all.
Coaching and social sessions
The venue runs coaching sessions for players working on their game, plus informal Sunday meet-ups (10–11am and 11am–12pm) where players turn up solo or in pairs and get slotted into a group of four on a first-come basis. It’s a useful format if you don’t have a regular four and don’t want to book a full court alone. The venue has also hosted themed taster sessions – women’s “Padel Gals” events among them – aimed squarely at first-timers rather than established players.
Between the included equipment, the low weekday price, and the drop-in social format, Kingston is built for someone picking up a racket for the first time. If you already play regularly and want a coached progression path or a bigger group scene, the padel in London guide has the fuller picture of where else to look.
If Kingston is booked out – nearest alternatives
Playtime Padel operates as a small London group, with Kingston sitting alongside sister sites including Tooting and Battersea. Tooting runs a flat £40/hour with no off-peak discount, so Kingston’s tiered pricing remains the better value if you can get a weekday slot. Battersea leans more towards coached sessions than casual pay-and-play. If none of the group’s other sites work for your schedule, south west London has denser padel coverage a short drive away – Wandsworth in particular has one of the highest concentrations of courts in the region.
For booking logistics across other venues – most of which do use Playtomic rather than Padel Mates – see the how to book a padel court in the UK guide. And if you’re one of the tennis players in the area weighing up a switch, padel for tennis players covers what carries over and what doesn’t.
See how this compares elsewhere with the full directory of UK padel court guides, organised by region.