A mile-long stretch of Aldenham Road in the town of Bushey, Hertfordshire, is about to become Britain’s most lavishly-equipped padel hotbed.
The road east of Watford already has two long-established padel facilities — three outdoor courts at Padel United North London in the grounds of Bushey Grove Leisure Centre and three indoor courts at the David Lloyd club — which are just 0.8 miles apart.
Now, equidistant between the two existing clubs, Padel Tree has just ‘soft launched’ with six courts at the Metropolitan Police sports ground, with a further three to be added on the site at a later date.
In a further development, right next door to the Met Police sports ground, Queens School and Powerleague Watford have had plans approved by Hertsmere Borough Council to turn two existing five-a-side football pitches into four padel courts. Conversion work has already begun.
Those courts will be for the school’s exclusive use within its standard hours but will be opened up to members of the public on a commercial basis through Powerleague at traditional peak times.
This provision of 16 courts (rising to 19 soon) in four separate facilities all within a 0.8 mile stretch of road surely makes Aldenham Road Britain’s busiest padel street.
Local player Barry Flood told The Padel Paper: “Somehow Bushey has become the centre of padel activity in the UK! It’s crazy!
“Padel United Bushey and David Lloyd are getting so popular, even during the day, so the demand to play the sport is there locally. I will be very interested to see whether all the facilities can fill their courts.”
Indeed, once the two new facilities are up and running, Aldenham Road in Bushey will be a fascinating case study for those concerned about future over-saturation of padel facilities, which happened nationally in Sweden in the post-pandemic period.
