Walls knocked down to create giant padel club

Padelheim co-founder Jack Stevens said padel was "very, very easy to pick up and play" [BBC]

An industrial unit is being turned into a new indoor padel club over four months, a company says.

Four courts will be created at Padelheim in Redditch, with the firm saying it followed padel participation in the UK more than trebling in the past year.

Work started this month on a facility of about 20,000 sq ft, with the club announcing its sports and social venue would include two fitness studios, a cafe/bar and community-focused spaces.

They said the facility on South Moons Moat Industrial Estate was due to open in July.

The sport has become hugely popular in the UK as well as other countries, with about 800 padel courts in Britain, and more than 400,000 players, according to Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) last summer.

Speaking at three 6,000 sq ft units in Redditch, co-founder and local entrepreneur Jack Stevens said walls would be knocked down "to turn [them] into circa 20,000 sq ft of indoor space and mezzanine space".

He added the "roof height is massively important".

"You play a lot of shots in padel, so if the balls are hitting the roof all the time, people are gonna get frustrated, so we've primarily picked a unit which allows for that."

One reason he wanted to choose Redditch for the venue was "the importance of sport is sort of deep rooted into the community".

Stevens said: "We've got things like Redditch golf club close by, Redditch United Football Club and there's already a community here which has a massive foundation... for sport."

Padelheim, co-founded by another local entrepreneur, Sam Lissaman, said change of use planning approval had been secured through Redditch Borough Council.