Riverside Club Plans Switch to Padel from Tennis
Andy Murray backed company has designed new facility
The club says existing tennis courts are underused. Picture: Virgin Active
October 3, 2023
The Riverside Health and Racquets Club on Riverside Drive in Chiswick is planning to provide Padel to its members by converting some of its tennis courts.
The designs for eight new covered courts have been drawn up by Game4Padel Ltd a company in which Sir Andy Murray has invested.
A number of pop-up courts were set up at the club earlier this year for demonstations.
The application for the club, which is part of the Virgin Active chain, states that the existing courts are underused and that the introduction of Padel would broaden the range of activities ‘available to the community’. The new courts would be developed in two phases of four courts each if permission was granted.
A plan provided with the application appears to show the proposed facility taking over a 0.52 hectare site currently occupied by three tennis courts and reducing the area taken up by six others. It would be sandwiched in between the remaining tennis facilities.
Each court would 20m x 10m and is enclosed by metal posts between which there would be clear toughened glass and metal open mesh panels. The surface would be covered in blue artificial grass which is a typical tennis court surface and would be blue in colour.
The courts would be covered with a canopy of a tensile fabric stretched over a structural timber frame which would allow games to be played in all weather. The lower sections would be open allowing light through the structure. The proposed design is the minimum height needed to play the sport while complying with LTA facility guidance.
A drawing of the new facility from planning application documents
The application states that there is a significant undersupply of suitable venues for this sport in the local area despite several new facilities recently opening in west London including the expansion at the Rocks Lane multi-sports complex on Chiswick Back Common.
Proponents of Padel claim it is the fastest growing support in the world, as well as the UK, and it has recently been recognised by Sport England. The sport is governed by the LTA and is easy to learn.
A Padel demonstration was held at the club earlier this year
As well as Sir Andy Murray, David Beckham has also made investments in the sport and regular players are reported to include Rafael Nadal, Lionel Messi, Maria Sharapova, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.
The planning reference for the application is P/2023/1959. Use this to search on the planning section of Hounslow Council’s web site to find out further details and make comments.
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