Romford is about to go from a single padel venue to two, and one of them is a serious statement of intent. Powerleague Romford has had four courts open at King George Playing Fields for a while, but S3 Padel is building a six-court, 43,600 sq ft venue inside The Liberty shopping centre, and it’s due to open this spring. For a town that had no padel at all a couple of years ago, that’s a fast shift – and it puts Romford ahead of plenty of larger towns that are still waiting on their first court.

This guide covers what’s bookable today, what’s coming, and why Romford is worth a look even if you’re coming from further into east London.

Powerleague Romford: open now

Powerleague’s Romford site sits at King George Playing Fields on Eastern Avenue West, part of a £750,000 investment that added four canopied padel courts alongside the venue’s existing football pitches. The canopies mean play continues through the rain, which matters given how much of the UK padel boom has been built on covered courts rather than fully enclosed indoor ones.

Court hire runs from £28.80 to £49 per hour depending on time and day, booked through Playtomic. The site has free parking, changing rooms, and equipment rental for anyone who turns up without a racket. Opening hours stretch from 7am to 11pm on weekdays, which covers early risers before work and evening sessions after it.

If you’ve played at other Powerleague sites – Manchester, Birmingham, Shoreditch, and several more have added padel to existing football venues over the past year – the format here will feel familiar. It’s part of a wider £14m rollout the operator committed to in 2025, adding courts across 17 of its 43 UK sites.

Because the site shares a car park and clubhouse with Powerleague’s football pitches, it has the feel of a proper sports complex rather than a standalone padel unit bolted onto a retail park. That’s worth knowing if you’re bringing a mixed group – some playing padel, others five-a-side – since you can book both on the same visit.

What it costs and how to book

Playtomic is the only booking route for Powerleague Romford, and the app shows live availability rather than requiring a phone call or email. Daytime midweek slots sit at the cheaper end of the £28.80–£49 range; weekend evenings, when demand is highest, push towards the top. As with most pay-and-play venues, booking a few days ahead gives you the best pick of times, especially for the popular 6–9pm midweek slots.

There’s no membership requirement, so this works as a straightforward drop-in option for anyone in the RM postcodes or commuting through on the Elizabeth line. If you’re new to the platform, download it before you arrive – trying to set up an account on your phone in the car park eats into your court time.

S3 Padel at The Liberty: coming spring 2026

S3 Padel has signed a 20-year lease for a 43,600 sq ft unit at The Liberty, Romford’s town-centre shopping centre, and is fitting it out with six courts. It will be S3’s third London venue, following sites at Brent Cross and Wembley, and the scale of the investment suggests the operator sees Romford as more than a filler location.

The opening window is spring 2026. No firm date had landed as of this guide’s research, so treat “spring” as the best available estimate rather than a booking-ready date. Once it does open, six courts inside a shopping centre means car parking, food, and other leisure options are all on the doorstep – useful if you’re combining a match with an evening out rather than driving somewhere purely to play.

The Liberty itself has been through a period of repositioning, adding more leisure and entertainment tenants alongside its retail units, and S3 Padel’s arrival fits that direction. A 43,600 sq ft unit is a serious commitment for a padel operator – for comparison, that’s larger than most standalone indoor venues opening elsewhere in the UK this year – and the 20-year lease term signals a long-term bet on Romford rather than a short pilot.

Until S3 Padel opens its doors, Powerleague is the only option taking bookings in Romford, so don’t plan a trip around a venue that isn’t live yet. Once a confirmed opening date lands, expect Playtomic or a dedicated S3 booking system to handle reservations, in line with the operator’s Brent Cross and Wembley sites.

Why two venues at once

Romford getting two padel operators within the same stretch of time reflects the broader UK padel wave that has also brought new courts to Shoreditch, Birmingham, Manchester, and Edinburgh over the past year or so. Operators are chasing the same demographic – social, competitive, mostly 25–45 – and a town with strong transport links and a large catchment area is an obvious target.

Essex more broadly has filled out its own padel map over the past couple of years, and Romford’s arrival fits that pattern. If you’re weighing up options across the county, the padel in Essex guide covers venues from Ilford to Colchester, including two other Romford-area courts worth knowing about: Padel 4 Everyone in the north-west of the town, and Powerleague’s own listing there.

What makes Romford unusual is the timing. Plenty of towns have gained a single venue over the past two years and stopped there. Romford is getting an established operator and a large-scale new entrant within roughly the same window, which means the town skips the slow, one-court-at-a-time build-out that most places have gone through. For players, that means more choice of times and price points within a few months, rather than a single new option to weigh up.

Getting to Romford from east London

Romford’s transport links are a big part of why this matters beyond the town itself. The Elizabeth line runs straight through, cutting journey times into central London significantly compared with the old overground service, and there’s also a fast mainline service into Liverpool Street. For players based in Ilford, Stratford, or further into east London, Romford is a realistic away-day option rather than a long slog.

That connectivity is also why Romford features in the wider London padel guide, which tracks all 46-plus venues across the capital’s zones. Romford sits just outside the formal London boundary, but for anyone mapping out where to play across the east of the city, it belongs on the same list.

Driving works too, if you’d rather skip the train. Powerleague Romford has free on-site parking at King George Playing Fields, and The Liberty is a town-centre shopping destination with its own multi-storey car parks, so neither venue should leave you hunting for a space on a residential street.

What to book, and when

For now, Powerleague Romford is the only live option – book via Playtomic, expect £28.80–£49 per hour depending on slot, and turn up early if you want the cheaper daytime rates. Once S3 Padel opens at The Liberty, expect its pricing to sit closer to the premium end given the scale of the fit-out and the shopping centre location, though nothing has been confirmed yet.

Either way, Romford is no longer a padel afterthought. Two venues within a single town centre, on top of strong rail links into London, gives it a stronger claim to serious padel destination status than most towns its size.

For court guides in other parts of the UK, browse the full directory of towns we cover.