Padel + Pickle, the brainchild of three US squash legends who originally hail from the UK, has finally opened its doors to pickleball and padel enthusiasts in St. Louis.
Co-founders Mike Puertas, Nathan Dugan and Mark Heather wanted to re-create the “rocking atmosphere” of the British squash clubs they were raised in, while also offering access to both the fastest growing sport in the U.S. (pickleball) and globally (padel).
Of his decision to make this project the next chapter of his storied racket-sports career, co-founder Puertas said: “St. Louis has such a rich history in racket sports, it was a natural fit for a new facility encompassing two of the fastest growing sports in the world.
“In creating the world’s largest indoor padel and pickleball facility, our vision was two-fold: to introduce these exhilarating sports to a broader audience and to establish a community hub where friends compete and memories are forged.”
Padel + Pickle features a whopping eight pickleball courts and six padel courts (the first in St. Louis and the entire state of Missouri), plus a fully stocked pro shop, dedicated locker room facilities, and of course, a gigantic bar.
Of their opening weekends, Puertas said: “The first weekend was a Founder’s Weekend, sort of a personal thing for the people who invested in the Founder Membership, so it was a much smaller, more intimate affair. There was a huge snowstorm, but we still had like 70 people show up because many Founding Members brought guests and we managed to fill all the courts up the whole time. It was really great.
“Then the ‘grand opening’ weekend was an open house for two days, from 10am until 7pm on Saturday and 10am until 4pm on Sunday, and we had probably had between 400 and 500 people come through. It was crazy, and we were on the padel courts the entire time.”
Now that this massive undertaking is finally up and running, Puertas is moving on to his next milestone. He says they’d like to quickly ramp up to having 500 paying members, and at this point they’re already well over halfway there.
While he says that so far people have been much more focused on trying out the sports than they have been socializing at the bar, he can feel they are right on the cusp of delivering their members that “rocking atmosphere” of his youth.
He said: “This Friday we’ve got our first Dinks & Drinks happy hour, which is already almost sold out. So, that’s where we are going to start building that tight-knit internal community with the new members that are signing up. It’s really going to be great!”
Padel + Pickle is now open Monday – Friday from 6am to 10pm and on weekends from 7am to 9pm at 1220 N Price Rd, Olivette, MO 63132. You can contact them via email or by calling (314) 887-4283. For more information, please visit their site.
And for other padel clubs around the U.S., please be sure to check out our comprehensive list of everywhere you can play padel in the U.S. right now.
This article first appeared in our sister title The Padel State.
