One of Britain’s oldest tennis clubs, The Northern in Manchester, is adding padel courts to help secure its future.
Founded in 1881 – just two years after the first ever Wimbledon Championships – the Northern is adding two covered floodlit outdoor padel courts. They are being officially opened to members and the community this Saturday by world-ranked tennis player and local boy Liam Broady.
The Northern, situated in the south Manchester suburb of Didsbury, is the latest venerable British tennis club to succumb to the lure of padel (a trend highlighted in this article in the Financial Times last week).
The club also becomes part of an explosion of padel venues across Greater Manchester, including The Padel Club in Wilmslow, its larger upcoming facility at the Trafford Centre, the two-court pay-and-play Manchester Padel Club in Heald Green and a forthcoming four-court outdoor club at Deansgate Square.
In its illustrious history, The Northern has hosted the likes of John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andy Murray on its 23 tennis courts. It also has six squash courts, a gym, fitness studio, lounge bar and eatery.
The club is hoping the new padel courts will unite club members and members of the public – one of the stipulations of its loan from the LTA. It’s also hoped it will help to continue the club’s resurgence after some recent financial peril.
A gradual erosion in participation was magnified immensely during the Covid-19 pandemic with a rapid drop in memberships from 1200 to just 700. This left one of the oldest lawn tennis clubs in the world questioning its standing and future.
But the club profited from tennis being one of the first permitted sports post-lockdown. That and a number of other changes saw The Northern bounce back post-pandemic to record levels of membership. The club say padel will now help it safeguard its future.
A club statement said: “[Padel] will allow existing relationships with the club, such as The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, to develop further, integrating a collaborative array of all ages and backgrounds to unite over the hottest new sport activity in Manchester.”
