Padel4all have formed a strategic alliance with leisure operators Everyone Active that will see a four-court club open at Bracknell Leisure Centre – and potentially more at similar venues around the country.
Padel4all currently operate clubs in Bristol, Swindon and Southend, with another club opening early next year in Eastbourne.
The company see the Bracknell project as the first of many at Everyone Active’s leisure centres around the country which have scope for adding padel facilities to enrich their offering of sports. About 20 sites have been identified and several are going through the planning process.
The concept is similar to that adopted by rivals Game4Padel who partnered with leisure operators GLL in January.
Bracknell Leisure Centre, operated by Everyone Active, has around 4,500 members using its gym, fitness studios, swimming pool, spa, sports hall, outdoor pitches, squash courts and a café.
Padel4all director Charles Whelpton told The Padel Paper: “This is really a no-brainer for us and Everyone Active. It complements and diversifies their offering of sports, helps us accelerate our roll-out and gives us access to a footfall of active potential new players.”
Like Padel4all’s other clubs, Bracknell’s four courts will feature a canopy and an array of programmes to encourage the local community to come through the doors and take up the sport.
Duncan Jefford, Regional Director at Everyone Active, said: “As one of the world’s fastest growing sports, we’re delighted to introduce padel tennis as a new activity at our centres across the country.
“Bracknell is a fantastic example of a community facility helping people to get active, where we’re working alongside Padel4all to launch padel tennis and expand our offering for people in the area. A fun and inclusive sport for all ages and abilities, we believe it will be very well received and embraced within the local community.”
Charles and Padel4all founder/CEO Christopher Wilkinson adopt a forensic approach to scouting potential sites for their clubs. Unless it’s an exceptional venue, their rule is: in order for it to be viable, there must be 100,000 people aged 16-64 within a 20-minute drive. They also want to be the first mover in each town and city they go to (as has been the case in their five projects so far).
“We are very particular about where we locate our centres,” says Chris. “We go into detailed demographical analysis for every site. We’ve walked away from three-quarters of the opportunities we’ve looked at.”
Padel4All’s hybrid pay-and-play and membership model ensures they live up to their titular ‘padel for all’ mantra. They deliberately foster links with the local community and schools and tailor offers for the local demographics (student discounts in Bristol and lower fees in less affluent Southend, for example).
“We are building centres with a club atmosphere, led by managers who we see as being like a landlord in a pub,” explains Chris. “We want the right people who are gregarious and charismatic. Roxy at our Lockleaze centre in Bristol is a great example.”
Padel4all has built its own bespoke court booking system which aligns with their club and community priorities and differs from the market-leading software. “We feel the main brands don’t help build a club, they just help players find a vacant court. Our system invites them to join programmes, courses, box leagues etc. It’s about building the community and improving the player experience.
“Our studies of the other systems showed us a lot about the things we shouldn’t be doing. There’s an affinity in this country to one’s own club. It’s quite a British mentality and I think at Padel4all we’re getting that model right.”
