Padel in the UK and Ireland in numbers (2026)

This page collects the published figures on padel in the United Kingdom and Ireland: courts, players, venues and growth. Each number links to its source and says how it was counted, because the sources do not all measure the same thing.

How many padel courts are there in the UK?

The LTA, which governs padel in Britain, counted 1,825 padel courts at 551 venues in Great Britain in May 2026 (LTA, 15 May 2026). At the end of 2025 there were 1,553 courts at 559 venues, and at the end of 2024 there were 870 courts at 293 venues (LTA, 25 March 2026). In 2020, when the LTA took on padel, Britain had 69 courts.

The LTA figures cover Great Britain, so courts in Northern Ireland are not included. The LTA does not explain why the venue count in May was slightly lower than at the end of 2025 while the court count rose.

Source: LTA, March and May 2026. n/a means the LTA did not publish that figure. The LTA gives no regional breakdown. Playskan, which tracks courts listed on booking platforms, counts 342 courts at 92 clubs within 20 miles of London, with an average court hire price of £45 an hour (Playskan, 21 September 2026).

How many people play padel in the UK?

In May 2026 the LTA reported 1,000,000 adults and juniors playing padel in Britain (LTA, May 2026). The end of 2025 figure was 860,000, more than double the 400,000 of a year earlier. In 2023 the count was 129,000, and in 2019 about 15,000.

For its end of 2025 figure the LTA counted everyone who had played at least once in the previous twelve months. That is a measure of reach, not of regular play: someone who tried padel once at a birthday counts the same as someone who plays twice a week. The LTA also estimates that about two thirds of these players play tennis as well, and that 57% of people in Britain knew what padel was at the end of 2025, against 38% a year earlier.

Is padel still growing in the UK?

Yes, on every measure the LTA publishes. Courts rose 79% in 2025, from 870 to 1,553, and another 272 were added by May 2026. The number of players more than doubled in 2025. Competition grew as well: the LTA sanctioned 643 grade 3 to 5 competitions in 2025, up from 409 in 2024, and 1,676 coaches have completed its introductory padel coaching course (LTA, March 2026).

Britain still has fewer courts per person than any other country in the table below. With 2.7 courts per 100,000 people it has about a seventh of the courts per person of the Netherlands, and less than a tenth of Spain’s.

How many padel courts are there in Ireland?

Ireland has no official annual count like the LTA’s. The Padel Federation of Ireland lists 258 courts in its court directory, spread across all four provinces (checked 22 September 2026). Playskan counts 61 courts at 20 clubs within 15 miles of Dublin (Playskan, 21 September 2026). Neither publishes a player number, and we have not found an official one.

Because the directory covers the whole island and does not say whether every listed court is open, we do not turn it into a courts per 100,000 figure.

Where the figures disagree

Two court counts circulate for the UK, and they are more than 500 courts apart.

• LTA: 1,825 courts at 551 venues, May 2026. Great Britain only, published by the governing body.
• Playskan: 2,362 courts at 652 clubs, 21 September 2026 (Playskan UK market report). The whole UK including Northern Ireland, counted from clubs that appear on booking platforms, excluding private, closed and coming soon venues. Of these courts, 56% are indoor, 32% outdoor and 12% covered.

The gap has three causes. Northern Ireland is in one count and not the other. The Playskan figure is four months newer. And a scan of booking platforms can find venues a governing body does not have on record, or the other way round. For the trend over time we use the LTA series, because it comes from the governing body and goes back to 2020. For a snapshot of bookable courts today, Playskan is closer to the day.

Player numbers need the same care. One million people who played in the past year is not one million regular players, and no source publishes a weekly figure for Britain.

How does the UK compare with the rest of Europe?

Spain has the most courts, Sweden the most per person. Great Britain has the fewest courts per person of the countries below, even after a 79% rise in courts in 2025.

Courts per 100,000 inhabitants is our own calculation. We used Eurostat’s population on 1 January 2026 (Eurostat) and, for Great Britain, the mid-2025 estimates for England and Wales (ONS) and Scotland (NRS), 67.6 million in total. Player figures cannot be compared one to one: some countries count everyone who played once in a year, others count licence holders or court bookers. The Swedish player figures date from 2022 and 2023; we found no newer figures from the Swedish federation.

Worldwide the counts differ as much as they do in Britain. The International Padel Federation (FIP) put the total at 77,300 courts and more than 35 million players in its 2025 report (FIP, December 2025). Playtomic and PwC’s Strategy& count 58,300 courts and 19.4 million players in their Global Padel Report 2026 (Playtomic).

Sources

• LTA: 1,000,000 padel players in Britain, 15 May 2026
• LTA: 860,000 players, latest figures on the growth of padel in Britain, 25 March 2026
• Playskan: UK padel market report and London report, 21 September 2026
• Padel Federation of Ireland, court directory, checked 22 September 2026
• Eurostat: population on 1 January, updated 21 July 2026; ONS, England and Wales, mid-2025; NRS, Scotland, mid-2025
• Other countries: the links in the table above

More about padel in Britain

For where to play and how to start, read padel in the UK and Ireland. The rules are explained in padel rules and scoring. We finish personalised padel rackets in the Netherlands and ship them to every country in the table above; the designer shows straight away what a racket with your own name or club logo looks like.