Inside Padel, the game rising to the top of Poplar’s sports scene
How the world’s fastest-growing sport has evolved in the ever-changing East End of London.
If you’re a keen tennis player, you’ve probably heard of a rising star in the racquet world. And no, it’s not a new prodigy breaking Wimbledon records. It’s the new sport everyone is talking about: padel. The Lawn Tennis Association estimated that in 2023, the number of padel players in the UK had risen to 90,000, from just 6000 in 2020. And East London has become a hub for the sport, with more venues in close proximity than the rest of the city.
Padel, officially the world’s fastest-growing sport, has seen player numbers in Poplar skyrocket over the last few years. The number of padel venues is also growing and in this part of the city, they reflect how rapidly the area is changing.
Before diving into that, let’s recap what padel is, for the uninitiated. It’s a racquet game – essentially a cross between tennis and squash. The racquets are smaller than the ones tennis players use, and stringless – more like paddles, you might say. It’s played on a smaller court enclosed by walls, always in doubles. The teamwork element makes it a great sport for socialising.
The first padel court was built on businessman Enrique Corcuera’s Mexican holiday home in the 1960s, though different forms of the game have existed since the 19th century. It has slowly built an international following. In 1991 the International Padel Federation was formed. In the UK, it operates as a division under the Lawn Tennis Association, whose name you probably recognise from Wimbledon.
London’s first padel court opened in Canary Wharf in 2012. Javier Fernandez Aguirre and Anka Mendelson were regular players there until the courts closed down to make way for Wood Wharf – a new development of luxury flats. Frustrated by the lack of alternative venues, they built Stratford Padel Club (SPC) from the ground up, opening in December 2018. Co-founder Anka Mendelson told us why people are drawn to the sport:
‘It’s much more social and easier to pick up than tennis. As a beginner, you can get a rally going in your first match, so it doesn’t feel as daunting. The barrier to entry is much lower.’
SPC has grown from around 30 to over 24,000 registered players in the space of six years. Originally they were mainly Spanish expats. Aguirre explained that padel originally became popular in Spain because it could be played on concrete courts in poorer, industrial areas. But SPC has been eager to engage people from the wider East London community. Mendelson says they now have a majority of British players, though more than 60 nationalities are represented at the club.
Accessibility remains at the core of their ethos. They want this to remain a people’s sport – something they worry could be lost given the rise of upmarket courts made with more expensive materials. SPC is a no-frills padel venue with the charm of a Spanish holiday spot. The casual vibe doesn’t detract from the quality of the facilities or the training. There may not be a sauna or spa – but there are cold drinks from their makeshift bar for anyone needing post-game refreshment.
‘Honestly, asking anyone to pay in excess of 60 pounds for a session makes a sport inaccessible,’ said Mendelson. We are keeping our prices for lessons and tournaments as low as possible, whilst still being very successful as a business. There is a way to make this commercially viable and still deliver value to players at an accessible price and we know how to do this.’
So-called premium padel venues are popping up in regenerated areas like Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, alongside Canary Wharf. Padium’s founder Houman Ashrafzadeh, who also started the health food bar Urban Greens, says he hopes that facilities like his glass padel arena, which opened in September 2023, will help Canary Wharf evolve into more of a lifestyle destination rather than solely a business district.
Padel’s rise looks to be unstoppable. As the SPC told me: ‘Sport should be a right – not a privilege.’ And if its rapid ascent is anything to go by, padel is set to be one of the most popular ways to exercise that right.
To book a padel session, go to www.stratfordpadelclub.org
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