On 8 January 2026, a trampoline park in Widnes bounced for the last time. Velocity Leisure, which had operated its inflatable and trampoline park at Unit 1 Easter Park since the mid-2010s, had converted the site over the previous months. When it reopened, it had five indoor padel courts, a licensed bar, and a new name: Velocity Padel.
A few weeks later, the Manchester Evening News reported a remarkably similar story from Wigan: a popular family attraction, “pushed to breaking point”, had been forced to become a padel centre. The specific venue wasn’t publicly named, but the headline told the story. A family leisure business, unable to sustain its model, had been replaced by something that could.
These are not isolated cases. They are examples of a pattern that is reshaping UK leisure infrastructure at pace – and if you play padel regularly, it tells you something important about where your next local court is likely to come from.
Why leisure venues are switching to padel
Struggling indoor venues have the high ceilings and large floor plates padel needs – and padel operators are willing to pay for them.
Padel’s growth has created strong demand for space – indoor space, specifically, with high ceilings, large floor plates, and easy access. Over three-quarters of the UK courts currently in the development pipeline are planned as indoor facilities, according to Leisure DB data published by The Padel Paper.
The sport is growing faster than purpose-built infrastructure can follow. A new padel venue from scratch involves land acquisition, planning, groundworks, and construction. Converting an existing leisure building is faster, cheaper, and – if the existing tenant is already struggling – often straightforward for both sides.
At the same time, several categories of indoor leisure venue are under structural pressure. Trampoline parks and soft play centres, which expanded rapidly through the 2010s, saw footfall collapse during the pandemic and many never recovered. Operators who held large indoor units on commercial leases suddenly had a problem – and padel operators had the solution.
The economics work cleanly. A padel court requires approximately 200 square metres of floor space, a minimum ceiling height of around nine metres, and relatively modest fit-out costs. An indoor trampoline park typically has 1,500 square metres or more of high-ceilinged space on a single level – enough for five to seven courts with room to spare. For a leisure operator looking to exit, padel is now one of the most credible buyers in the room.
The 5-a-side football pivot
The most systematic conversion is happening at Powerleague. The operator runs 43 football venue sites across the UK, and in 2025 it committed £14 million to adding padel courts across 17 of them – a rollout targeting 76 courts in total.
Sites at Manchester, Birmingham, Shoreditch, Romford, Paisley, Edinburgh (Portobello and Sighthill), and Stoke-on-Trent have already opened. Mill Hill in north London is in construction. The Manchester venue launched in spring 2025 with six canopied courts alongside an existing football facility, offering year-round covered play.
The logic for Powerleague is different from the trampoline park case. Nothing is being closed – padel is being added to existing sites. The company’s 43 venues serve around 8.5 million customers a year, and the demographic overlap with padel is significant: team-based, social, competitive, predominantly 25–45. Adding padel courts to a football venue is less a conversion than an extension: the same car parks, the same social space, a new sport alongside the existing one.
What it means for players is coverage. Powerleague sites cluster in the suburban belts where housing density is high and standalone padel venues are thin. If you play five-a-side at a Powerleague site, courts are probably arriving near you.
Where councils are getting involved
The more significant shift in the long run may be happening in the public sector.
Hounslow Council recently approved £950,000 of capital funding to install six padel courts at two of its leisure centres – three at Hanworth, three at Isleworth. Both sites have tennis courts that have seen a 27 percent drop in usage since before the pandemic. The courts will be converted for padel, with completion expected in spring/summer 2027. Hounslow projects £1.4 million in additional income over four years.
In Brighton and Hove, Game4Padel opened three courts at Withdean Sports Complex in February 2026 in a partnership with Freedom Leisure and the council. In Fareham, Padel4all is developing four courts adjacent to the council-owned Fareham Leisure Centre on Park Lane Recreation Ground, due to open April 2026.
Chichester District Council has included two padel courts in a broader £8 million leisure centre investment tied to a new 15-year management contract, due to begin May 2026. Bedford Borough Council has allocated £300,000 in capital funding specifically for padel courts.
The council and leisure operator route has its own dynamic. Operators such as Everybody Health & Leisure – which manages leisure facilities across Cheshire – have been adding courts at their existing sites without needing to close anything. Barony Sports Complex in Nantwich opened two courts in February 2026. Wilmslow Leisure Centre has received planning approval for two more. Holmes Chapel Community Centre already has courts running. These are not dramatic conversions. They are the incremental addition of a popular sport to the infrastructure that already serves local communities.
What the pattern adds up to
Three distinct things are happening at once: struggling leisure venues selling their space to padel operators, five-a-side football chains adding courts to their network, and local authorities beginning to treat padel as a legitimate community sport worth funding.
Each route adds courts in different places and at different price points. The trampoline park conversion tends to produce a specialist facility – a new venue that is padel-only, often with a bar, a Playtomic booking system, and market rates. The Powerleague model produces affordable courts in high-footfall suburban locations. The council and leisure operator route produces the cheapest and most accessible courts, often at below-market prices, with established catchments and public transport links.
For players, the implication is that supply is coming, and it is coming from multiple directions simultaneously. The LTA counted 1,000 courts across Britain by July 2025 and 1,825 by May 2026. Industry projections put the figure at 7,000 to 8,000 within a decade. If leisure operators and councils continue moving at the pace the last six months have established, that trajectory looks credible.
The Velocity trampoline park in Widnes is now a padel centre. In Nantwich, courts are open at a sports complex you could have used to swim last month. In Hounslow, the tennis courts that have been standing half-empty are being converted to something people will want to book.
This is the sport spreading beyond its early adopter geography – carried by the grittier machinery of leisure infrastructure doing what it always does: following demand. For a wider view of where the sport is landing across UK cities, padel outside London covers the regional picture in detail. And if you’re now looking for your nearest court, how to choose a padel club covers what to look for once you find one.
FAQs
Which leisure operators are adding padel?
Several leisure operators have begun adding padel courts to existing facilities. Everybody Health & Leisure has courts at Barony Sports Complex Nantwich, Holmes Chapel Community Centre, and Alderley Park, with Wilmslow Leisure Centre approved. Game4Padel has partnered with councils and operators including Freedom Leisure (Brighton’s Withdean Sports Complex). Padel4all is developing courts adjacent to Fareham Leisure Centre on council land. Powerleague is adding padel at 17 of its 43 football sites nationwide.
Are council padel courts cheaper to play at?
Generally, yes. Courts at council-managed or operator-run leisure facilities tend to be cheaper than standalone private venues. Powerleague courts aim for mass-participation pricing, and council-funded courts are typically subject to the same pricing frameworks as other sports at those facilities. Premium standalone venues, especially those converted from trampoline parks or built as dedicated padel clubs, usually charge more.
Why are trampoline parks becoming padel venues?
Trampoline parks and indoor leisure attractions have faced declining footfall since the pandemic. They occupy large, high-ceilinged indoor units that are structurally close to ideal for padel. Padel operators need exactly that kind of space and are willing to pay for it. Where a trampoline park operator is looking to exit a lease or close a site, a padel conversion is often the most commercially straightforward outcome for all parties.