A Roehampton private school has applied to build the area’s first padel courts , the latest in a wave of at least five padel developments now under way across Wandsworth, as the sport’s national governing body drives a push for rapid UK growth that looks, to some observers, uncomfortably like the boom that collapsed in Sweden three years ago.
Ibstock Place School submitted plans to Wandsworth Council earlier this month for three enclosed courts on its Roehampton playing fields, available to the public via online booking from 8am to 10pm daily. Planning documents describe the site as “the first padel facilities in Roehampton” and cite “significant unmet demand for padel across London.”
The application is one of several moving through the borough simultaneously. Wandsworth Council’s own leisure contractor, Places Leisure, is planning four new padel courts at Wandle Recreation Centre and already operates courts at Battersea Sports Centre and two other borough sites under a £24m, 10-year contract that began last October.
In Merton, just across the borough boundary, GrassRoots Padel Ltd won planning permission in December for seven courts inside the Wimbledon Park athletics track, a decision opposed by local residents on six grounds, every one overruled. All Star Tennis, which took over management of Putney Lower Common courts last year, already operates approximately two padel courts in the borough.
Nobody, across any of these applications, appears to have asked what happened in Sweden.
The Swedish lesson
Between 2019 and 2022, Sweden’s padel market expanded from roughly 300 courts to 3,500. In 2023, approximately 90 Swedish padel businesses filed for bankruptcy. In Uppsala, a city of 200,000 people, the number of courts went from 14 to 100 in a single year before collapsing. “So many things went wrong,” Andreas Ehrnvall, a Swedish padel veteran, told the Camden New Journal in February. “This country rapidly went from having 300 padel courts to 3,500. It was just untenable.”
The UK currently has approximately 1,500 courts and more than 100 new openings are forecast for 2026. A 2023 Deloitte report predicted the global padel market would triple by 2026. The Lawn Tennis Association, which formally adopted padel governance in 2019 and has its headquarters in Roehampton, has called on the government to fund padel hubs in underserved communities.
UK operators argue the comparison with Sweden is misleading. S3 Padel, a Swedish-backed chain operating courts at Wembley, Brent Cross, Sutton, Derby and Bristol, claims its Wembley venue achieves 12 to 14 hours of court use per day. The LTA has argued that UK expansion is slower and steadier than Sweden’s, and that planning regulations prevent “unproven operators” from flooding the market. S3 Padel prices courts at £40 to £50 per hour, against competitors charging up to £100, and has committed 250,000 free hours to schools and community groups.
Those arguments may be right. The question is whether anyone in Wandsworth has tested them.
A pattern without a plan
The Places Leisure contract, signed with Wandsworth Council in October 2025, commits £24m to improvements across eight borough leisure centres over four years. The padel plans at Wandle Recreation Centre and Battersea are part of that investment. Cabinet Member Paul White said at the time the contract “ensures residents benefit from excellent, modern facilities both in our centres and out in the community.”
What the contract does not appear to include is any published assessment of whether padel demand across Wandsworth can sustain the combined output of council-backed courts, a private school facility, an existing commercial operator and a nearby Merton approval, all arriving in the same 12-month window.
The Wimbledon Park case illustrates the dynamic clearly. GrassRoots Padel Ltd applied to Merton for seven courts inside the athletics track on Metropolitan Open Land, a designation that gives planning applications heightened scrutiny. The Friends of Wimbledon Park submitted a formal objection citing six reasons; all were overruled when Merton granted permission in December 2025 for a one-year trial. GrassRoots Padel’s own planning documents, quoted in the FOWP objection, stated that the trial “could lead to a long-term installation and investment programme.” The application called it temporary. The applicant described a permanent programme.
At Ibstock Place, the planning statement acknowledges that courts will stand next to Grove House, a Grade II* listed building, but concludes there is no heritage harm. The courts, measuring 20 metres by 10 metres each, with 9-metre canopies and LED floodlighting, will be constructed by Fordingbridge PLC, whose director authored the national code of practice for padel court construction. Groundworks are expected to take six to eight weeks, with completion targeted for spring or summer 2026 if approved.
Since 2019, UK padel participation has grown from around 6,000 players and 125 courts to approximately 90,000 players and 250 courts by 2022, according to figures cited in the Ibstock planning statement. The LTA, based less than a mile from the proposed Ibstock courts, is the primary engine of that national push.
What you can do
The Ibstock Place School planning application can be viewed and commented on at planning.wandsworth.gov.uk – application 2025/4664. Any resident can submit a representation on a live application.
Residents can also contact Roehampton ward councillors directly: Cllr Matthew Tiller (cllr.m.tiller@wandsworth.gov.uk), Cllr Graeme Henderson (cllr.g.henderson@wandsworth.gov.uk) and Cllr Jenny Yates (cllr.j.yates@wandsworth.gov.uk). All three represent the ward where the Ibstock application is sited.
Putney.news will follow the outcomes of the Ibstock application, the Places Leisure court openings, and the Wimbledon Park trial, which is due to expire in October 2026.
