Sittingbourne has never had a padel court – not one, not even a couple bolted onto a leisure centre car park. That changed on 1 May 2026, when Square One Padel opened its doors at Dolphin Park, and the Swale borough got its first taste of the sport at all. If you’ve been driving to Maidstone or further to get a game, that’s no longer necessary.

This guide covers what’s at the new venue, how it compares to the other options springing up around it, and what a Sittingbourne-based player’s practical choices look like now that the map has changed.

Square One Padel – what’s there

Square One Padel sits at Dolphin Park on Cremers Road, in the Eurolink Industrial Estate (postcode ME10 3US) – a converted industrial unit that had stood empty for years before founder Sam De Haan took it on. The opening was delayed slightly, from an original date of 24 April to 1 May 2026, after snagging and drainage issues, but it’s now fully operational.

The facility runs to 7 indoor padel courts, alongside a gym, a restaurant, recovery and physio space, and a Reformer Pilates studio. It’s the second Square One site after the operator’s original venue in Ashford, and the format carries over: fully enclosed panoramic courts rather than a couple of outdoor pitches, with the surrounding facilities built to make it a place you’d stay for a couple of hours rather than just turn up and leave.

The investment came in at just over £1 million, and the club expects to employ around 50 people once fully staffed. De Haan has been explicit about the milestone: this is the first padel facility anywhere in the Swale borough, covering Sittingbourne, Faversham, and the surrounding towns that previously had no local option at all.

Courts are bookable now via Playtomic, with the venue also listed on Playskan. Pricing sits in the £18–£25 per hour range, though as with any brand-new venue it’s worth double-checking current rates and off-peak slots before you book, since these things tend to settle in the first few months.

Free on-site parking is included, which matters for an industrial estate location where you’re arriving by car rather than on foot. The club has said its coaching programme is aimed at a broad range of players – juniors, adults, seniors, and local schools and youth groups among them – so it’s built with more than just a handful of enthusiasts in mind. If you’re after a regular game rather than a one-off booking, that breadth of programming is worth asking about directly when you visit.

Maidstone’s new arrival changes the picture

Sittingbourne players don’t have to look far for a second option. Forever Padel opened in Boughton Monchelsea, on the edge of Maidstone, in early July 2026 – about 9 miles from Sittingbourne, so a realistic 20-minute drive.

It’s a smaller setup than Square One: 4 doubles courts and 1 singles court, built into a converted 1980s warehouse on a family-run farm site. What it lacks in court count it makes up for with extras – a two-floor gym, an ice bath, a sauna, and a licensed bar, plus founders’ memberships that include a free racket. Bookings run through Playtomic, same as Square One.

Between the two venues, a Sittingbourne player now has a real choice on any given week: the bigger Square One, or the newer, more boutique Forever Padel. Neither existed six months ago, and having both within a short drive of each other puts this corner of Kent well ahead of plenty of towns twice its size.

Forever Padel’s founders – Mike Williams, Ollie Wells, and James Lawton – built the venue on the site of Williams’ family business, and they’ve been open about wanting it to function as a community hub. Founders’ memberships (£499, including a free racket) sold quickly, though flexible pay-as-you-go options start from £19.99. A local school, Sutton Valence, is also reportedly planning to bring padel into its curriculum there – a sign of how quickly the sport is being absorbed into the area’s wider sporting life, beyond the adult social scene.

The wider Kent picture: Chatham and Medway

Zoom out further and the Medway towns – Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham – have had padel for longer, with 14 courts across three venues. Frindsbury Tennis and Padel Club in Rochester is the largest, with ten courts on its booking system, and it’s booked through the club’s own app and website.

At around 15 miles from Sittingbourne, Medway is a longer drive than Maidstone, but it’s an established scene rather than a brand-new one – useful if you want a bigger pool of regular players to get games against, or if Square One and Forever Padel are both fully booked on a Saturday morning. For the full county picture beyond this corner, the Kent padel guide covers every significant venue from Tunbridge Wells to the coast.

Put the three areas together – Sittingbourne, Maidstone, Medway – and a player based anywhere in this stretch of north Kent is realistically choosing between three separate local scenes rather than driving an hour to the nearest court. That’s a different situation to the one that existed even three months ago, when Sittingbourne itself had nothing and Maidstone’s new venue hadn’t opened.

What this means if you’re just starting out

If you’re new to the sport and based in or around Sittingbourne, the practical answer is straightforward: Square One is the closest and largest option, with structured coaching and a Pilates studio if you want to build fitness alongside your game. Our guide to starting padel covers what a first session looks like if you haven’t picked up a racket yet.

No dedicated venue has opened in Faversham yet, so if you’re on that side of Swale, Sittingbourne is still your nearest court – roughly a 15-minute drive from the town centre out to the Eurolink estate.

Padel’s learning curve is famously gentle compared with tennis – the smaller court, the walls in play, and the underarm serve mean most beginners can rally within their first session. A facility with a proper coaching setup and a social calendar, rather than just courts for hire, makes that first step considerably less intimidating. Ask about beginner-specific sessions when you book, since brand-new venues often run introductory slots at a discount while they build up their regular membership base.

Getting there and what to expect

Dolphin Park sits in the Eurolink Industrial Estate, a short drive from the A249 and well served by the main routes into Sittingbourne. As with most padel venues built into industrial units, the setting from the outside doesn’t tell you much – it’s what’s inside that counts, and a 7-court facility with a full gym and restaurant attached is a serious first offering for a town that had nothing before it.

Given how new the venue is, it’s worth checking current opening hours and any beginner or social sessions directly via Playtomic before you book, since schedules on brand-new sites tend to shift in the first few months as they find their rhythm. If you want to compare it against every other option within a reasonable drive, our padel court finder is a good starting point.

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