The UK’s most spectacularly located padel club is weeks away from opening its doors and CEO Houman Ashrafzadeh can’t wait to “raise awareness among British people about this beautiful game.”
Padium, featuring seven indoor courts and one outdoors, is situated slap bang in the middle of the towering skyscrapers of Canary Wharf in London’s central business district.
Its high-profile location will showcase padel to thousands of potential players every day – and those who venture through its doors will enjoy a deluxe experience in state-of-the-art facilities.
The venue will feature a mezzanine floor with a lounge area and conference facilities for corporate guests to combine work with padel play and coaching. The shop will stock Bjorn Borg, Babolat and other apparel and equipment, there will be a smoothie bar and the changing rooms will have towel service.
With a ceiling height of 10.2m and a centre court featuring smart cameras and sufficient surrounding space for players to dash out of court and retrieve the ball, Padium will be all set up to host elite tournaments.
Players will be able to pay and play, with court bookings organised through Playtomic. Membership options will be available, which will enable members to book courts in advance, plus other perks.
“We put a big emphasis on getting the small details right, to ensure the experience and impression for every player is perfect, not just while they are playing but before and afterwards too,” Houman tells The Padel Paper.
Houman has lived in London for 16 years and has built a successful empire as co-founder of Urban Greens and Coffydoor as well as his own introductory brokerage business, 360 Capital Ltd.
He discovered padel around five years ago through his brother and his friends on regular trips back to Sweden. “I fell in love with it straight away,” he says.
On returning to London, though, he was frustrated at not being able to take part in his new-found obsession. “I thought to myself, ‘Why don’t I do something about it?’” he chuckles.
At that point, barely anyone in Britain had heard of padel and, however hard he pitched to people in his contacts book, interest in joining his quest to build a club was minimal.
That all changed when he went for dinner with a certain Martin Lorentzon, the co-founder of Spotify. A fellow Swede, Martin played (and still plays) padel five times a week to a very decent standard.
“That was a real breakthrough moment,” recalls Houman. “It wasn’t difficult convincing him about padel’s benefits and potential. It was a matter of finding the right person. He was so surprised to hear that there was nowhere to play in London.”
Houman’s initial plans were modest. He looked for a low-cost, unmanned warehouse outside central London. But he quickly realised it would be a huge challenge convincing a population that knew nothing about padel to travel to an unglamorous industrial area to try the sport out. A flagship location was key.
Post-Covid, there was a lack of demand for office space, which made Canary Wharf a more viable location. “With my more premium plans and vision, I managed to convince the Canary Wharf Group,” he says.
“Everyone was telling me, ‘All you need to do is build a padel court,’ but I had a definite vision and I wanted to elevate the padel experience to the next level in the UK.
“Because we’re so accessible we can give so many people the chance to learn padel who would never have had the opportunity before. We’re raising awareness of the sport.”
Although there is still no official opening date, building work is nearing completion and Houman is itching to open the club’s doors for the first time. “Half the reason I’m setting the club up is to use it myself!” he laughs. “I will probably be there every single day.”
