THE UK PADEL MARKET IS STILL IN LEARN MODE

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Nobody genuinely knows yet, because the market simply isn’t mature enough

IS STILL IN LEARN MODE THE UK PADEL MARKET

John Treharne, founder of The Gym Group and one of the fitness industry’s true pioneers, took up the role of Chair of The Padel Club last year. He sat down with PadelNation to outline the plans for the company and to share his views on the future direction of the UK’s padel market

ew people have built a leisure business on the scale of John Treharne. Having founded The Gym Group in 2007 and helped transform the UK’s fitness market through its high-value, low-cost model, he has spent almost two decades growing one of the country’s largest gym operators. Now, as chair of The Padel Club, Treharne is applying many of those same principles to one of Britain’s fastest-growing participation sports. While he believes the UK padel market has enormous potential, he is equally clear that operators should resist assuming they already have all the answers.

“The reality is that nobody knows yet,” he says repeatedly throughout our conversation.

From club size and indoor versus outdoor courts to pricing, customer behaviour and facility design, Treharne believes the sector is still discovering what a mature UK padel market will ultimately look like.

In a wide-ranging interview with PadelNation, he discusses The Padel Club’s growth plans, why he believes accessibility will determine the sport’s long-term success, what operators can learn from the evolution of the gym industry, and why he thinks padel should eventually have its own independent voice.

After spending four decades in the fitness sector, what attracted you to padel?

There were a lot of similarities with where the gym market was when we launched The Gym Group nearly 20 years ago. Paul Gilbert and I had both discovered padel while spending time in Portugal and could immediately see the opportunity. The sport was already well established in parts of Europe, but hardly anybody was playing it in the UK. That felt very familiar.

When we started The Gym Group, high-value, low-cost gyms already existed in markets such as Germany and the United States. We were able to learn from those businesses before adapting the model for the UK. Padel is at a similar stage today. The UK market is still relatively embryonic, but that’s exactly what makes it exciting.

You’re chair of The Padel Club. What does your role involve?

I’m one of the founder shareholders alongside Paul Gilbert, who also chaired The Gym Group for many years. Our role is really to support the business, help secure funding and bring some of the experience we’ve gained from building leisure businesses before.

Kris Ball, our CEO, has a very strong operational background from David Lloyd, so our job is to help him build something at scale. We’ve opened four clubs so far and have planning permission for several more. Like any growing business, we’re focused on building the right foundations before accelerating expansion.

You’ve spoken before about the similarities between gyms and padel. What are the biggest lessons you’ve taken from one sector into the other?

Probably the biggest lesson is that you never stop learning. When we started The Gym Group, I spent months visiting operators overseas to understand what worked well and where there were opportunities to improve.

We’re doing exactly the same thing now. We’re regularly visiting clubs across Europe, looking at different construction techniques, operating models and player experiences.

Anyone who tells you they already know exactly what the UK padel market will look like in five years’ time is kidding themselves. There are still so many unanswered questions. How many courts should a club have? What’s the right balance between indoor and outdoor facilities? What’s the optimum operating model?

Nobody genuinely knows yet, because the market simply isn’t mature enough.

The UK has seen rapid growth in the number of courts. Has that surprised you?

A little. Padel has existed for around 60 years, so in one sense it’s surprising it didn’t establish itself in Britain much earlier.

At the moment there are around 1,600 courts in the UK. Spain has something like 30,000. The populations are broadly comparable, so it’s difficult to argue that Britain couldn’t ultimately support many thousands more courts than it does today. I think one important difference from southern Europe is that the UK market will become predominantly indoor.

If the sport is going to become truly national, it has to be seen as affordable and welcoming rather than exclusive

Outdoor courts will always have a place, but our climate makes indoor facilities much more attractive for most of the year. If you look at our Trafford development, we’ve built both indoor and outdoor courts, but I believe indoor facilities will ultimately dominate the UK market.

One of the defining characteristics of padel is its social appeal. How important is that community aspect?

It’s absolutely fundamental. Players don’t simply want somewhere to play for an hour and then leave. They want somewhere they can meet friends, have a coffee or a drink afterwards and spend time together. That’s one of the reasons our clubs include good social spaces alongside the courts.

It’s actually something padel shares with squash. The big difference is that padel appeals to a much broader demographic. It’s much easier for beginners to pick up, it’s played predominantly as doubles, and participation is spread much more evenly across different age groups and between men and women. That combination creates a very strong community environment.

The Padel Club doesn’t operate on a traditional membership model. Why?

The reason is simple – accessibility. One of the reasons The Gym Group was successful was because we removed barriers to participation. I think padel needs to do exactly the same.

We’re a pay-and-play operator rather than a membership club because we want people to be able to book a court without feeling they’re joining an exclusive club. Our indoor courts are around £10 per player per hour at peak times, with rackets and balls included.

We also provide coaching, a café bar and quality facilities because we believe players are looking for value rather than simply the lowest possible price. It’s about creating a high-quality experience that’s accessible to as many people as possible.

You’ve spoken about making padel accessible. Is there a danger that padel becomes perceived as elitist?

I think there is, and it’s something the industry needs to think carefully about. One of the things that made The Gym Group successful was making exercise accessible to everyone. We weren’t trying to create an exclusive environment – we wanted to remove barriers to participation. I think padel should have the same ambition.

At the moment, much of the development is taking place in relatively affluent parts of the country. That’s understandable at this stage, but I don’t think that’s where the market ultimately ends up. There’s no reason why people in places such as Luton, Southall or other less affluent communities shouldn’t enjoy playing padel just as much as anybody else.

If the sport is going to become truly national, it has to be seen as affordable and welcoming rather than exclusive. That’s one of the reasons I like the pay-and-play model. It removes one of those psychological barriers that traditional club membership can sometimes create.

Expansion is clearly a priority for The Padel Club. What challenges do operators face?

Planning, without question. Like the gym sector, planning remains one of the biggest obstacles to growth. We’ve experienced periods where several applications have been progressing at the same time, only for nothing to happen for months and then three approvals arrive in a single week. You simply can’t plan a business efficiently around that level of unpredictability.

Planning also influences the indoor versus outdoor debate. Outdoor courts inevitably raise questions around lighting and noise, whereas indoor facilities generally avoid many of those issues. That’s another reason why I believe the UK market will become increasingly focused on indoor developments.

As a business, we’ll continue growing steadily. We currently have four clubs open and planning permission secured for several more, but expansion has to be sustainable. The Gym Group didn’t open 20 gyms in its first year, and I don’t expect the padel sector to develop overnight either.

Court quality has become an increasingly important issue as the market expands. How do you approach that?

We’re still evaluating the market. When we first launched The Gym Group, we didn’t immediately settle on one equipment supplier either. We spent time testing different manufacturers before developing long-term relationships. I think the same applies to padel courts.

Quality, durability and after-sales support are every bit as important as purchase price. Players notice the difference. Beyond the court itself, operators also need to think about the complete playing environment—lighting, ventilation, ceiling height, the sub-base beneath the court and the overall customer experience.

Those details become increasingly important as the market matures. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the international supply chain evolves significantly over the next five years, just as we’ve seen happen in the fitness equipment market.

I think over time we’ll see county leagues, stronger club competitions and more structured player pathways developing across the UK

Looking beyond The Padel Club, where do you see the biggest opportunity for the wider sector?

Participation. That’s the word I keep coming back to because I think it’s the most important one. Personally, I believe participation-led leisure has a stronger long-term future than entertainment-led leisure.

People might visit a trampoline park or another attraction occasionally for a birthday party or corporate event, but they don’t usually build those activities into their weekly routines. Padel is different. People want to improve and join coaching sessions. They arrange games with friends and become part of a community.

That regular participation creates sustainable demand for courts in exactly the same way regular gym attendance creates demand for fitness facilities. The social element is hugely important, but it exists alongside genuine sporting participation.

I think over time we’ll see county leagues, stronger club competitions and more structured player pathways developing across the UK.

Finally, do you think the sport needs a stronger independent voice as it grows?

Personally, yes. As the sector continues to mature, I think there will eventually be a need for an organisation whose sole focus is representing padel operators and supporting the development of the sport.

The fitness industry has organisations such as ukactive and EuropeActive that exist specifically to represent operators’ interests. I can see merit in padel developing something similar in the future.

The LTA has undoubtedly played an important role in helping establish padel in Britain, but its primary responsibility will always be the development of tennis. As padel becomes a significant sport in its own right, there may come a point where operators feel the sector would benefit from having its own dedicated representative body focused entirely on padel.

We’ve seen comparable models work successfully in other parts of the leisure industry, and I think it’s a conversation the sector is likely to have as it continues to grow.