The sport taking the UK by storm can now be played using a temporary facility at Hornsey Cricket Club

A new sports club has launched a ‘pop up’ in Hornsey and is taking the neighbourhood by storm.

Padel tennis is a cross between traditional tennis and squash where, on a court half the size of a tennis court and surrounded by walls, doubles players use special rackets to return the ball, often hitting it against the wall as they do so.

The sport was invented in Mexico back in 1969 and has been growing in popularity ever since, especially Spain, with the International Padel Federation aiming to reach 75 national federations for the sport to become an Olympic discipline by 2032.

Padel has taken the UK by storm with the number of dedicated clubs more than doubling in the past five years. An additional 250 padel courts were built between 2022 and 2023, an increase of 116% in just one year.

Since the beginning of July, padel has also found its way to Crouch End, where local resident and padel enthusiast Jon Magnus has teamed up with Toby Bawden, an LTA Level 1 padel couch with ten years of coaching experience. They have launched PadelBox, a three-month pop up at Hornsey Cricket Club.

Jon told Haringey Community Press: “It’s just really fun, really social, it’s super easy for people to pick up vs tennis. It’s accessible to kids, all the way through to elderly.

“My parents were playing and they are in their 80s. It’s just a really good and fun way to get some exercise and to come together with a group of people.”

Because of the sport’s popularity across the globe and growing interest across the country, Jon and Toby men have an ambitious plan to launch in other locations around the UK, including Battersea Power Station.

During the upcoming ten weeks they not only wish to encourage more Londoners to visit one of their pop-up courts and try padel for themselves, but most importantly to make it popular among kids by offering one-hour of children’s session for as little as £10 as well as a kids summer camp programme.

However, their future plans reach far beyond pop-up centres. Jon explained: “Our mission is to provide places to play for people in and around London. Our vision and the end goal is what we call ‘project 32’ which is to build up to 32 courts across five or six clubs in different areas of the UK.

“To provide places to play, a good environment, create really good communities, to provide education and programmes at the centre.”

In only three weeks since its launch, the Crouch End padel pop-up has brought in around 550 followers to PadelBox, and has possibly already attracted and coached future padel professional players.

Toby said: “We’ve been running taster sessions for kids and adults alike and it’s been super successful in terms of how quickly people pick up the sport, and there have been a few kids that really caught my eye.”

Padel sessions, coaching and court hours at Hornsey Cricket Club can be booked online:
Visit padelmates.se/club/padelbox

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, or one-off donation.