Preston's latest padel tennis plans unveiled for city site

Plans have been unveiled for the latest facility, in a vacant warehouse in Fulwood.

If the scheme is approved, it would bring to four the total number of indoor and outdoor padel venues to have launched in Preston in just two years.

It comes after the opening of the covered Just Padel venture - in the former Staples and Office Outlet unit, off Ringway - earlier this year.

Outdoor padel facilities first came to the city at the West View Leisure Centre in 2023 and, late last year at Broughton and District Club, on Whittingham Lane.

The proposed warehouse-based padel centre, on Caxton Road, would accommodate four courts, along with spectator viewing areas and a cafe.

An application submitted to Preston City Council states that the sport - which is played on courts roughly a third the size of a tennis court - is “growing dramatically in popularity across the UK”. Two years ago, it was described as one of the world’s “fastest-growing” sports.

The conversion would require barely any external changes - except to improve access - to what was a former food storage building. The vast majority of the modifications would be internal.

The current 22-space car park would be almost quadrupled in capacity to 82 bays, via the removal of more than half a dozen existing spaces for articulated lorries.

A statement lodged with town hall planners says the new facility - which would sit within an industrial area - would create 12 full-time and six part-time jobs.

It would open from 6am until 11pm every day “to allow for use of the facility before and after working hours, giving people the opportunity to visit at their convenience”, the document adds.

It continues: “This proposal represents a sustainable and beneficial repurposing of an underutilised warehouse, supporting health and wellbeing through sport.

“The padel tennis centre will provide a high-quality recreational facility that is accessible, inclusive, and well-integrated into the local community.”