Newbury doesn’t need a “coming soon” story. Most of the smaller English towns picking up padel courts this year are still waiting on planning permission or a fit-out date, but Newbury already has a court you can book tonight. Courts Padel at The Retreat, Elcot Park, is open, floodlit, and taking bookings through Playtomic – and David Lloyd Newbury has added padel to its own facilities list too, giving the town a second option most places this size don’t get.

That puts Newbury in an unusual position for West Berkshire. It sits roughly equidistant from Reading, Swindon, and Oxford, three larger padel markets, but for anyone who doesn’t fancy the drive, there’s now a proper reason to stay local.

Courts Padel at The Retreat, Elcot Park

The main venue is an outdoor court at The Retreat, a rural estate just outside town on Elcot Lane (RG20 8NJ). It’s a single outdoor court, described by the venue as a “Super Panoramic” build with run-out space around the playing area, and it’s the one that shows up when you search the Playtomic booking system directly for this venue.

Address: Elcot Lane, Elcot, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 8NJ

Hours: Open daily, 7am to 9pm

Pricing: £28 per hour for members, £40 per hour for non-members – both rates cover up to four players for a 60-minute booking, so split between four it’s an affordable session either way

Booking: Via the Playtomic app or website

Booking windows: Members can book up to 30 days ahead; non-members get an 8-day window

Floodlit: Yes, which matters for a single-court venue – it means evening bookings stay available through the darker months rather than the court going idle once the sun drops

One court is a smaller starting point than some newer venues in bigger towns, but it’s a working, booked-through-an-app option today, not a plan on paper. For a market town the size of Newbury, that’s a meaningful thing to have.

David Lloyd Newbury

The second option is David Lloyd Newbury, which added outdoor padel courts on land previously used for one of its tennis courts. The club’s current facilities page lists padel among its racquet sports, bookable through the David Lloyd app in the same way as tennis. The original planning application, submitted in March 2025, proposed three outdoor courts, one of them covered.

Padel at David Lloyd clubs is generally reserved for members, and Newbury requires the club’s Platinum-tier membership to access racquet sports including padel. That makes it a different proposition to Courts Padel’s pay-and-play model – harder to access for a one-off game, but a natural add-on if you’re already a David Lloyd member or thinking about joining for the wider gym and swimming facilities.

Which venue for beginners

If you’re picking up a racket for the first time, Courts Padel is the simpler route in. Non-member pricing at £40 an hour split four ways works out at £10 a head, there’s no membership commitment, and Playtomic’s booking flow doesn’t require any prior relationship with the venue. Being outdoor means checking the weather before you drive over, but the floodlights mean an evening slot after work is realistic for most of the year.

David Lloyd suits a different kind of beginner – someone who’s already a member for the gym or swimming pool and wants to try padel as an add-on, rather than someone starting from zero. If you’re not already inside that membership, the Platinum tier is a bigger commitment than trying a sport deserves on its own.

Parking and getting there

The Retreat sits outside the town centre on Elcot Lane, so you’ll need a car – there’s no realistic bus or walk-in option for most of Newbury, let alone the wider catchment. On-site parking at a rural estate venue like this is rarely the issue; the drive itself is the main factor to plan around, particularly after dark on unlit country lanes in winter.

David Lloyd Newbury sits within the town’s usual road network with the club’s standard car park, more straightforward if you’re coming from central Newbury or nearby estates.

Why Newbury, and why now

West Berkshire Council received an ePetition asking specifically for a padel court in Newbury before The Retreat’s court existed – a real signal of local demand rather than just marketing copy from a venue trying to justify its own existence. That the town now has two options, an independent outdoor court and a health-club addition, suggests the demand behind that petition was reasonably well judged.

For players in Hungerford, Thatcham, or the villages around Newbury, this also means West Berkshire no longer requires a drive to Reading or Swindon for a game. One outdoor court plus a members-only club falls short of the scale you’d find in a bigger padel hub, and won’t satisfy everyone, but it’s a live, working local answer where a year or two ago there wasn’t one.

If Newbury’s court is booked out or you’re weighing up whether outdoor or indoor suits you better, Swindon has a larger indoor scene worth the drive, and our guide to indoor vs outdoor padel is worth reading before you commit to a regular outdoor slot through a Berkshire winter.

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