The largest padel centre in the North West will be opening its courts, following a successful planning permission application by Social Sports Society.
The 10-court venue will be opening in 2025, with the first courts launching early in the year. Sports venue operator Social Sports Society is partnering with developer FEC to open the 13,000 sq ft centre within Manchester’s Victoria North regeneration area. It will be designed by architecture practice IF_DO.
Padel, best described as a hybrid between tennis and squash, is the fastest-growing sport in the UK. Played in doubles and accessible to beginners, it is by nature a ‘social sport’ and central to Social Sports Society’s vision to create community-first gathering spaces in previously unoccupied urban spaces. At a later stage, other sports will become available at the centre, including boules.
Social Sports Society is bringing padel at scale to the UK, with its Stockport venue opening later this year. The two launches in the North West follow Social Sports Society’s successful opening of London Wembley’s first padel venue, in the one of Europe’s largest regeneration projects, Wembley Park. This will shortly be joined by the forthcoming opening of its Brent Cross venue, which has capacity for a total of 26 courts – more than any of its UK counterparts. Several other venues are currently in the pipeline.
Planning permission has now been granted for the site on Peary Street in New Town, a vibrant new area neighbouring the communities of Red Bank, Collyhurst and MeadowSide. Once open, the site will be managed by Found, FEC’s in-house operator which provides a 360-lifestyle experience for residents of Victoria North that seeks to activate unused areas, and engages with a community of pioneers and ground breakers, at any stage in life – whether that be young professionals or families.
Social Sports Society will join the exciting mix of brands already operating within the neighbouring Red Bank and MeadowSide areas including, Fairfield Social Club, BlackOwned MCR, Green Arches Brewery and Bar, Half Dozen Other bakery, Foundation Coffee and renowned spätzle restaurant, The Spärrows – as seen in the Michelin Guide.
Shilpa Lakhanpal, Asset Manager at Found, said: “Bringing the incredibly popular padel to North Manchester is really exciting for us and the existing residents in the local area looking to pick up a racket and try something new. We’ve long had a focus on expanding our sports and activity offering to enhance the wellbeing of our resident community, so developments like this, where we can offer multiple sports in a small area, are a great addition.”
Rachel Tan, Social Sport Society’s Director of Growth and Development, said: “We are delighted to be bringing Social Sports Society to Manchester. This venue represents our commitment to helping unlock the potential of regeneration areas, for the purpose of longer-term placemaking and serving communities with accessible gathering hubs. Together with our talented design team at IF_DO and our technical experts at Total Project Integration, I am confident we are creating a fresh vision in the padel industry and we couldn’t be prouder to be contributing to Manchester Victoria North’s future.”
Asteer acted as planning consultants for the project.