The Bandeja Magazine Issue 2

feature
Bristol rockets
up padel league
Bristol is gearing up to rival London
as the UK’s padel heart with plans
for 31 new courts - including 14 in
the UK’s largest indoor centre yet.
The city already has four
outdoor covered courts at
Padel4all’s Lockleaze centre,
which opened in August, and now
four more organisations have their
sights set on developing padel hubs
around the city, bringing Bristol’s
court count to 35. London currently
has around 45.
The first to open will be We Are
Padel Bristol, which is installing
seven courts in the former Pure Gym
building in Barrow Road, Bristol. The
company began work on the fit-out
in mid-November, with a tight works
schedule planned in order to have
the centre open shortly.
We Are Padel county manager Rosco
Muller described the project as ‘more
challenging, more exciting’ than their
ground-breaking 11-court We Are
Padel Derby centre, adding: “It is the
perfect setting. The courts will have
the same look, feel and quality that
people expect from us.”
Rocket Padel, a new entrant to the
UK, is raising the bar with its scheme
to convert a football pitch sized
warehouse in St Anne’s Road into a
14-court centre. It’s the company’s
first development outside
Scandinavia, with another site in
greater London under discussion.
Bristol City Council planners gave
the project the green light in July
and the centre’s opening is set for
May. The hi-spec facility will feature
a restaurant, bar and social areas
plus on-site staff, coaches and a
padel shop.
Carl-Henric Heimdal, Rocket Padel
co-founder and director, explained
that they’ve been looking at opening
in the UK for two years and have
plans to deliver five to 10 more
padel centres over the next two
years. “We’ve been looking all over
the country; it is the combination
of finding a city or place where you
want to build and where you feel
that you can bring something to the
22 thebandeja.com