As padel’s popularity continues to soar and operators scramble to build large clubs in the UK’s big cities, one entrepreneur has spotted a novel opportunity to meet the excess demand.
In Birmingham, where the population exceeds one million, Pure Padel and The Padel Club will soon be opening clubs offering seven and 10 courts respectively, building on the city’s existing facilities including Connect Padel, Powerleague and courts at many tennis clubs.
Developer Adrian Cole has a plan to ensure every Birmingham resident can access a padel court with his new venture, Ballers Padel Club. Three clubs are in planning and discussions on three more are ongoing.
Essentially, Ballers Padel Clubs will act as an overflow for the bigger clubs. Cole calls the concept “the PureGym of padel.”
“I literally want to be on every corner in Birmingham,” he tells The Padel Paper. “I want to be the PureGym of padel. Literally every five to 10 miles, I’m there.
“I want to be strategically placed next to the bigger clubs, that are overbooked literally every day. I want to give people a chance to play, because when places like that are overbooked, people have to wait a week until they can get another booking.
“If I’m next door with a two, three-court facility outdoors, they get a chance to play. It’s just making the sport more accessible.”
The three clubs awaiting planning approval are in Birmingham city centre, Dudley and Stirchley (all with outdoor courts) and the aim is to be open by the summer.
A planning decision for the flagship city centre club is expected in mid-April. It’s set to include a recovery and wellness lounge with sauna, cold plunge, red light therapy, oxygen chamber, IV drips, Pilates studio, Hyrox-style gym, cafe and three padel courts.
The Stirchley club, located south of Birmingham near the university, will have two outdoor courts with a club house. The Dudley site, at the Waterfront Business Park, will have three standard courts and a singles court.
Adrian’s ambition is to provide accessible, affordable padel in each corner of Birmingham, and while “the big boys are coming” to the city, he’s happy for his sites to act as a little brother, not stepping on any toes but offering an easy alternative.
“I’m not in competition with any club,” states Adrian. “The larger destination clubs that are coming, six to 12 courts, typically they’re oversubscribed, they’re fully booked in advance and they’re inaccessible.
“My clubs are for people with a lack of time, transport and lack of funds to play at the bigger clubs.
“I want to do something for Birmingham. Not just build padel clubs, I want a place where people can meet friends and just connect with other people socially.
“I feel like I’ve got a different strategy, I’m not profit-led, I’m more profit with a purpose, and I feel like that will resonate with a lot of the Birmingham community and it will bring them to my clubs.”
Cole’s community focus includes the offer of free courts to selected groups and getting school kids involved in padel.
“We’re already in discussions with a few schools for free court hours for them, and we’re implementing free court hours across all sites during off-peak times. I feel like that’s going to be a big thing,” he explains.
“Not only is it going to draw people to our clubs, get people playing the sport and getting the communities healthy, but we’ll also be subsiding that with court sponsors and brand partnerships, and they can take the credit for it.
“I’m going to cause a bit of a stir in the industry. Not one club in the UK has done that. They might offer free community hours here and there, allocate some hours just for their planning strategy, but I’m doing free court hours across all of my sites.
“Not only is it going to drive a lot of footfall to my clubs, but we’re actually making an impact on the community, rather than using community as a buzzword.”
Cole is already giving the Brummie public regular updates on his progress before opening his first Ballers Padel Club later this year. His videos take the community on the journey to show what it takes to build padel clubs. The first TikTok has already surpassed 95,000 views.
The Ballers ‘every street corner’ model of meeting demand for padel is something new to both Birmingham and the UK padel industry. Following its progress will be intriguing.
