'Padel is building communities in county'

Usman Haji, the co-founder of Just Padel UK, at his new venue in Blackpool

Padel is "building communities and new relationships", according to Usman Haji.

As co-founder of Just Padel UK he has opened Lancashire sites in Preston and Blackpool in February and October respectively, and plans to open another venue in Bolton soon.

There are 70 padel courts across Lancashire, with dozens more planned, according to figures from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

Mr Haji said: "It's growing absolutely massive in the UK."

Padel is a racquet sport that Mr Haji described as "a mixture between squash and tennis."

It is usually played in doubles, on an enclosed court approximately a third of the size of a regular tennis court.

In 2019 there were just 68 courts across the country, but in recent years the sport has become immensely popular, with the number of courts nationally reaching 1,000 in July, LTA figures showed.

Padel is a racquet sport that is similar to squash and tennis

LTA figures show just over 400,000 adults and children played the sport in 2024, more than 26 times as many than in 2019.

New courts are opening all the time in Lancashire.

In Blackburn alone, six courts opened on the Hyndburn Retail Estate in September.

Nine more courts are opening soon off Haslingden Road, and plans for eight more padel courts on Iron Business Park have been approved by councillors.

Blackpool is Just Padel UK's second venue, with a third planned

Mr Haji put the sport's success down to how "easy it is to pick up," and how "there's literally no limit" to how old or fit you have to be to play.

"We have juniors from literally the age of eight years old all the way to senior generations - 60, 70 years old", he said.

He also highlighted the social aspect of the sport, adding: "You can go from not knowing anybody or the sport at all, to all of a sudden playing a game and finding a whole bunch of new people."

Mr Haji said "it won't be hard to sustain" the level of interest in padel, and believed the sport would soon become an Olympic sport and continue to grow.

Additional reporting from the Local Democracy Reporting Service.