If you’ve searched for padel in Stevenage and come up short, you’re not missing anything. The town does not have a padel court yet – a real gap in a county where Watford, Hitchin, St Albans and Radlett have all built out multi-court venues over the past two years. That’s about to change, but not quite yet. Here’s where things stand, and where to play in the meantime.
Does Stevenage have padel courts?
No. As of mid-2026, Stevenage has no operating padel venue, making it one of the larger Hertfordshire towns still without one.
That’s a surprising gap. Stevenage has a population approaching 90,000, a New Town-era infrastructure built around sport and leisure, and a direct rail line into London – exactly the profile that’s brought padel to comparable towns elsewhere in the county. Watford, Hitchin and St Albans have all built multi-court venues in the past two years. Stevenage, so far, hasn’t.
Part of the reason is likely timing rather than demand. Padel’s UK growth has clustered around towns with an existing tennis or leisure-centre operator willing to convert space, or a specialist padel company scouting new territory. Stevenage has plenty of tennis and leisure provision – Stevenage Leisure Park, several tennis clubs, the Arts and Leisure Centre – but none of them have made the move yet. The Broadhall Way application below suggests that’s about to change, driven by the football club rather than a leisure operator.
What’s planned for Stevenage
Stevenage FC has submitted a planning application (reference 26/00148/FP) to build four padel courts at Valley Sports Football Academy on Broadhall Way, the club’s training ground. The proposal is for courts under semi-transparent canopies, positioned between the existing artificial pitch and newer buildings on site, with screening trees planted around the perimeter.
Planned opening hours in the application are 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and 8am to 10pm on Sunday – a solid community-access schedule if it goes ahead as submitted. The application had not been decided at time of writing, so there’s no confirmed opening date. Worth checking Stevenage Borough Council’s planning portal (search 26/00148/FP) if you want to track progress yourself.
Given a football club is behind it rather than a specialist padel operator, expect the courts – if approved – to lean towards community and pay-and-play access rather than a members-only model. That’s consistent with how Watford’s football and rugby-linked venues have operated.
Where to play padel near Stevenage right now
Until Stevenage has its own courts, the closest options are both a short drive away and well established.
Padel Zone in Hitchin is the standout. Five courts – four indoor doubles courts plus a dedicated singles court – in a purpose-built indoor facility on Wilbury Way, about 6 miles from Stevenage, roughly a 10-minute drive. It’s the first indoor padel facility built specifically for the sport in North Hertfordshire, and the quality shows: proper courts, a decent café setup, and monthly membership at £35 that gets you 20% off bookings and a longer advance booking window. Non-members can still book, just on a shorter lead time, through padel-zone.co.uk or CourtBrain. Being fully indoor, it’s also the more reliable option through a wet Hertfordshire winter, when Gosling’s courts are more exposed to the weather. For the full breakdown of what’s on offer, see our Hertfordshire padel guide.
Gosling Sports Park in Welwyn Garden City is the other realistic option, around 8 miles away and about a 15-minute drive. Two courts, installed on the site’s existing clay tennis courts, run through Game4Padel and bookable via Matchi for both Better members and non-members. It’s a simpler setup than Hitchin – no dedicated padel building, rackets available to hire at £2 – but it’s close enough to be a solid weekday option if Hitchin is booked out. Sessions run for 60 or 90 minutes and are set up for doubles, so you’ll want three other players before you book.
Both venues are within a comfortable evening-after-work drive, which matters if you’re trying to fit a game in after 6pm on a weekday. With only seven courts between them serving a wider catchment that includes Hitchin, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City’s own residents, peak evening and weekend slots at both venues go quickly – booking two or three days ahead is the safer habit until Stevenage adds its own supply.
Should you go further afield?
Only if Hitchin and Welwyn Garden City are full. Watford has five venues further south; Luton has one smaller venue the other way.
If neither Hitchin nor Welwyn Garden City has availability, Watford’s cluster of five venues and 15-plus courts is around 25 minutes south by car, and worth the trip if you want more choice of times. Our Watford padel guide covers what’s on offer there. Luton, in the other direction, has a smaller single-venue setup – see our Luton guide – but it’s a similar drive time and worth knowing about if you’re heading that way for other reasons.
For most Stevenage-based players, though, Hitchin is the sensible default: closest, best-equipped, and specifically built for padel rather than retrofitted onto existing courts.
What to do while you wait
If you haven’t played before, this is a reasonable moment to get your first sessions in elsewhere before Stevenage has its own venue. Padel Zone Hitchin runs the kind of structured intro sessions that make sense for a first-timer, and turning up already knowing the basics means you’ll be ready to make the most of local courts the moment they open. Our guide to finding a padel court near you is a good starting point if you want the wider picture of how court-finding works across the UK.
Keep an eye on the Broadhall Way planning application. If it’s approved, Stevenage goes from a padel blank spot to a town with its own community venue almost overnight – and we’ll update this guide the moment courts are open for booking.
See how this compares elsewhere with the full directory of UK padel court guides, organised by region.