Britain passes a million padel players — and the courts can't keep up
The LTA says more than a million people now play padel in Britain, with courts up roughly 78% in a year. The building boom is extraordinary — and demand is still winning the race.
The numbers are almost hard to believe. The LTA now counts more than a million players in Britain, up from around 860,000 a year ago, with over ten million saying they'd like to try the sport. Behind them sits a build-out that has gone close to vertical: roughly 1,500 courts across some 559 venues, a figure that has more than doubled since the end of 2024 and is still climbing at about 78% a year.
For a sport that barely existed here a few years ago, this is one of the fastest grassroots expansions British sport has seen. And it's being driven by money: the LTA and its foundation have put more than £7.5m into court construction, helping unlock far larger private investment, with a stated target of 2,000 courts by the end of 2026.
The catch: you still can't get a court
Here's the thing every player already knows — supply is chasing demand, and demand keeps winning. Try booking a 7pm weekday slot in any major city and you'll feel it. New clubs open to waiting lists; peak hours vanish the moment they're released.
The building boom is staggering. It's also still not enough — and that gap is the whole story of UK padel right now.
That tension is reshaping the operator landscape. David Lloyd has become the country's largest padel operator on the back of its members' clubs, while Game4Padel leads the pay-and-play world and independents are racing into underserved towns. For players, the practical takeaway is simple: book earlier than you think you need to, and keep an eye on what's opening near you.
What it means for the game
More courts means more players, more leagues, and a deeper competitive ladder — the LTA Padel National League is now the biggest team competition in British padel. It also means the sport is finally big enough to sustain its own media, its own culture, and — this August — its first professional event on home soil.
We'll keep tracking the openings club by club in the finder, and flag the ones that matter near you in the newsletter. Because in UK padel right now, the most useful thing we can tell you isn't who won in Rome — it's where you can actually get on a court this weekend.