Manchester-headquartered progressive padel operator – Pure Padel – has confirmed it is to launch its debut North East club in Darlington, taking it to a three club business.
The plans – the club’s first to be revealed for 2025 – have been confirmed for a state-of-the-art seven court indoor set up, which is due to officially open in May 2025.
Based in a former DIY store on popular Darlington Retail Park, owned by Adderstone Group, the warehouse unit is currently undertaking a full refit to transform it into a stylish and sporty padel club, ready to welcome fans of this fashionable and accessible sport.
The new premium venue will offer seven panoramic padel courts, a pro-padel shop, a bistro-style café and bar, a heated sports lounge, fully equipped changing rooms with showers, plus access to expert coaches. Free onsite parking and wifi will also be available to customers.
The announcement follows Pure Padel’s successful launch of Manchester’s premier indoor padel club last September at its club on Dutton Street, as well as a club at Alderley Park, which it launched in October 2023. Moving the racket sport indoors eradicates the need for dry and calm weather and allows players to continue with their plans totally undisturbed by the elements.
With accessibility at its core, matches will be on a ‘pay to play’ basis allowing players of all abilities to book and play via the Playtomic app from 6am right through to 10pm. The app enables first timer or solo players to find and play with others of a similar level and matches them accordingly for an enjoyable and fair game. With no member fees, Pure Padel enables players to play as much or as little as they choose without the constraints of the traditional sports club model.
Pure Padel has demonstrated its success and ambition through its more than 13,000 players and status as the first padel club in the North West to operate multi-site facilities. The ambitious business has plans to build another 30 padel clubs in the UK over the next five years, with five currently in planning and a further 15 in the pipeline.
The Midlands and South West London are among the business’ target regions, as well as further expansion across its home county of Cheshire. Meanwhile, planning permission has been logged for a second site in the North East, in Gosforth.
Founder and Managing Director at Pure Padel, Sammy Arora, said: “The new site in Darlington is the perfect location for the next Pure Padel Club. We’ve targeted the North East due to its enormous growth potential – the region is fast becoming a padel hub with lots of existing fans of the sport that are looking for new and accessible clubs to play at. Our indoor club, offering shelter from the elements and year-round guaranteed play, is hugely appealing and gives us a strong foothold in the area.
“Its position in the town’s most popular retail and leisure park is ideal for lots of reasons – it’s well-known, accessible and offers ample free parking. The unit itself offers 28,000 sqft, allowing us to not only offer seven indoor courts, but leaves plenty of space for all the other things that make our padel clubs unique, such as the bar and social areas.”
Ian Baggett, founder and CEO of the Adderstone Group, the owners of the Darlington property, said: “Having played tennis most of my life I view Padel as a brilliant development for all racket and sports fans and am pleased to see it growing in popularity across the North East.
“Pure Padel is emerging as one of the leading players in the sector and the location of this new development in our Darlington premises is perfect for the growth of the sport in the town and surrounding communities.”
Pure Padel’s soon to be launched indoor Darlington site has already gained interest from corporate partners and is available for further highly attractive sponsorship and events opportunities for the business community and beyond.
Sammy is equipped with backing from a strong selection of non-exec board members from retail, property, finance and law and has accumulated various sources of investment including Sammy’s father, Bobby Arora, who is one of the key investors.