The largest retail venue in Europe will soon be home to one of the world’s fastest-growing sports, as the padel phenomenon comes to Westfield London.
Westfield has agreed a 10-year lease deal with Game4Padel, the company behind a UK-wide network of playing facilities for padel, the tennis/squash hybrid game that already boasts six million players in Spain and is rapidly gaining popularity across the UK, continental Europe and the rest of the world.
Game4Padel, which counts Sir Andy Murray among its investors, plans to build three permanent padel courts – two covered and one open show court – at Westfield London, which had a pre-Covid annual footfall of around 31 million people. Subject to planning, the three courts could be open in time for Christmas this year.
The deal also includes Game4Padel installing two additional ‘pop-up’ padel courts, one to coincide with the launch of padel in The Atrium, the main indoor event and entertainment space with pre-Covid footfall of 750,000 people each week, and one next summer at Westfield Square, the outdoor event space which is surrounded by restaurants and leisure outlets.
Michael Gradon, Co-founder and Chief Executive of Game4Padel, said: “We see huge potential for padel facilities in premium UK leisure and retail developments so to have signed this deal with Europe’s biggest and best shopping destination is a real boost.”
