A new padel venue landing on a Hertfordshire country estate sounds like exactly the kind of thing that gets announced with a date, then slips. The Ponsbourne Club, tucked into 200 acres of ancient woodland off Newgate Street near Hatfield, had form for that risk – its own opening date came and went once already this summer without a working booking link. It’s since caught up: the courts are open, and you can book one.

Here’s what’s live, what it costs, and where to play nearby if Ponsbourne’s midweek evening slots are already gone by the time you check.

What’s open at The Ponsbourne Club

Four outdoor doubles courts, LED floodlit for evening play, sitting inside a pavilion clubhouse with a café (Yetz) attached. The address is Newgate Street, Ponsbourne Park, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 8QT – close enough to Hatfield and Bayford station that it works as a destination rather than a detour.

Booking runs through the Padel Mates app, not Playtomic or Matchi, so if you’ve built up an account on one of those for other Hertfordshire venues, you’ll need a separate sign-up here. Three membership tiers – Chiquita, Gancho and Vamos – sit alongside pay-and-play, with the usual trade-off of priority booking and discounted rates for members.

How much it costs

Pricing runs on a four-tier system by time of day:

  • Super off-peak (weekdays, 7am–12pm): £22 per court/hour
  • Off-peak (weekdays 12pm–5pm; weekends 6pm–10pm): £28
  • Peak (weekends 8am–6pm): £39
  • Super peak (weekdays 5pm–11pm): £44

That super peak rate is worth flagging – it’s the priciest slot in the county for an outdoor court, and it lands exactly when most people finish work and want a game. If your schedule allows a lunchtime or weekend booking instead, you’ll pay noticeably less for the same court.

What’s still not open nearby

The Ponsbourne brief that led to this piece also flagged a second venue landing in the same window: Pulse Padel’s planned site on Lower Hatfield Road in Hertford itself, three outdoor courts plus an adventure golf course. It was targeting a July 2026 opening. That’s slipped to August, and as of now there’s still no live booking link – just a sign-up form for updates. Worth bookmarking, but don’t plan a game around it yet.

If you want a padel court near Hertford today, Ponsbourne – a short drive out, not walking distance – is currently your best bet, alongside the wider spread covered in our Hertfordshire padel guide.

The nearest alternative: Essendon Padel Club

If Ponsbourne’s booking calendar is full, or Padel Mates isn’t your thing, Essendon Padel Club at Bedwell Park in Hatfield (AL9 6HN) is the closest already-established option. Two panoramic courts, open 7am to 10pm daily, bookable on Playtomic – which makes it the easier sign-up if you’re already using that app elsewhere in the county. It sits inside a proper golf-club setup with a clubhouse and restaurant, so it has more of a members’-club feel than Ponsbourne’s newer, more minimal pavilion.

Between the two, that’s six courts within a few miles of each other on the Hatfield side of the county – a meaningful jump for an area that had close to nothing this time last year.

Getting a game in

If you’re new to Padel Mates, download it before you plan a session rather than at the court – account setup and payment details take a few minutes, and you don’t want to be doing that while your opponents wait on the other side of the net. Off-peak weekday mornings are the easiest slots to grab; the super peak evening window will fill fastest once local players catch on to the venue being open.

For the fuller picture of where else to play across the county – Watford, St Albans, Hitchin and beyond – see our Hertfordshire padel guide. And if Hatfield specifically is your base, our Welwyn Garden City guide covers the other courts a short drive from Ponsbourne.

Looking to compare with somewhere else? Browse all UK towns we cover for court guides across the country.