🇬🇧 New UK facility set to be 'Europe’s biggest indoor pickleball and padel club'

A new padel company based in the south of England is to open what it claims will be “Europe’s biggest indoor pickleball and padel club” after winning local authority backing.

The Hub of Pickleball and Padel, known as THE HOPP, which was set up three months ago, has announced that the new facility will open next year in the Surrey town of Farnham, around 70km south of London, after Waverley Borough Council granted the project planning permission.

Based on the Farnham Trading Estate, THE HOPP will have at least ten indoor pickleball courts and four indoor padel courts. The project will involve transforming a 57,600 sq ft warehouse that has stood vacant for the last two years.

As well as the pickleball and padel courts, THE HOPP said it will feature “luxury social space, changing and catering facilities as well as a club shop and expert coaching.” There will be 176 car parking spaces and 18 spots for bicycles.

THE HOPP was founded by entrepreneurs Sally Grace and Andre Strachan, who won the Skechers Pickleball English Open mixed doubles gold medal in August.

Strachan told Padel Business Magazine that the pair are confident of their claim that the facility will be the biggest of its kind in Europe.

“Having done our research, the reason we’re saying it will be the biggest is because we don't believe there is any indoor facility in Europe which has got pickleball and padel under the same roof,” he said.

The overwhelming majority of padel and pickleball courts in major centres on the continent such as Spain are outdoors. The Los Naranjos Padel Club, a new facility due to open this year in Marbella, is planning to feature 12 outdoor padel courts, four semi-covered courts and two pickleball courts.

Strachan revealed that the aim is to open THE HOPP by next spring, adding that “it is all dependent on when we exchange on the site purchase.” He also confirmed that the cost of the project will be £2.5 million, with investment coming from the pair as well as private backers.

News of the facility comes amid a period of explosive growth for padel in the UK, with a rapidly growing number of indoor and outdoor courts opening up. Stratford Padel Club in London, for example, has expanded from five to nine indoor courts over the past year, and now has over 30,000 registered players.

Last month, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body for padel in Britain, announced new targets of increasing the number of courts in the country from 350 to 1,000 and growing the number of annual padel players from 129,000 to 400,000 by the end of 2026.

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