Padel in the UK and Ireland: how to start and what it costs

Ten years ago, explaining padel in Britain or Ireland meant explaining the walls, then the underarm serve, then why it is not just small tennis. That conversation is mostly over. Courts have gone up at tennis clubs, at leisure centres and at venues built for padel alone, and a Saturday morning booking is now an ordinary thing to have in the diary.

This guide is about how the sport works here in practice: where you play, how to start, what a racket costs and how delivery works.

How it grew here

Padel arrived here long after it had become ordinary in Spain, and the growth since has come mostly from existing clubs. A tennis club with a tired court has an obvious conversion available: two padel courts fit where one tennis court was, they need four players instead of two, and beginners manage a decent rally within an hour.

In Britain the sport sits under the LTA, the same governing body as tennis, which is much of why the courts have appeared at tennis clubs. Alongside that, a commercial side has grown up: standalone padel centres, usually indoors or under cover, which is the practical answer to the weather here. How many padel courts there are in the UK, and how fast that number is rising, is in padel in the UK in numbers.

Where you play

• Tennis and racket clubs. Usually the cheapest option if you are already a member, and the easiest place to find people at your level.
• Dedicated padel centres. Pay and play, booked through an app, no membership needed. Typically indoor or covered, open late.
• Leisure centres and sports complexes. Increasingly common, with a court or two added alongside the existing facilities.

Availability still varies sharply by region, so a court booking app is the quickest way to see what is actually near you.

How to start

You need four people, a court and rackets. The first two are a booking. The third you can hire at almost any venue, which is what most people do for their first handful of sessions.

The scoring is the same as tennis, so if you have ever watched Wimbledon you already know it. The differences are the underarm serve, the walls being in play and the fact that the ball can go out through the side opening. Twenty minutes of play sorts most of that out.

Most venues run beginner sessions or a social format such as an americano, where you rotate partners through short matches. That is the fastest way in if you do not already have three other people to play with.

What a racket costs

Once you are playing weekly, hiring gets old. A padel racket costs between €40 and €350. Entry level sits around €40 to €90, often with a fibreglass face; the mid-range runs €90 to €180, with a carbon face and an EVA core; above €180 you are paying for stiffer grades of carbon and for the brand. The most expensive option is rarely the right first one: top models are tuned to advanced technique and forgive fewer mistakes.

Our own rackets sit in the middle bracket: a round shape with a 100% carbon face and an EVA foam core, 360 grams, with a 12-month warranty. Blank costs €79.99, a printed face €99.99 and Full Custom, face and side, €119.99, all including VAT. Whether a custom racket or a brand racket suits your game is set out in custom padel racket vs brand racket.

Ordering from us in the UK and Ireland

Every racket is personalised to order in our workshop in the Netherlands and shipped across Europe with DHL. Production takes up to 7 working days and transit at most 3 working days, so at most ten working days from order to door. Shipping is €17.95 to the United Kingdom and €16.95 to Ireland, shown separately at checkout. All our prices are in euros.

One difference between the two. Ireland is inside the EU, so the price you pay at checkout is the price in full. The United Kingdom is not in the EU, so a parcel crosses a customs border and DHL may ask for import duties and local VAT before handing it over. Those charges are set by the destination country and are not included in our price. The country by country detail is in custom padel racket delivery across Europe.

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