About us
Padel Playa / LondonA game that started in a Mexican garden, was raised in Spain, and is only now finding a proper home in London.
The roots of the game
1969
1969
Acapulco
Enrique Corcuera wanted a tennis court at his holiday home. The boundary walls and the vegetation gave him ten metres by twenty, so he built the court the space allowed: boxed in by walls three to four metres high, with solid wooden paddles in place of strung racquets, and rules that let the ball be played off the walls. Lawn tennis and squash, merged. He called it Paddle Corcuera.
1974
Marbella Club
Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburg visited Corcuera, fell for the game and brought it home to Spain. He built the first two courts in Europe at the Marbella Club on the Costa del Sol, refined the dimensions and replaced the concrete side walls with metal fencing, which made the rallies faster. Padel became the game of international royalty, of the Wimbledon champion Manolo Santana, who championed it, and of King Juan Carlos I, who played it often.
Today
Spain
Padel is the second most played sport in Spain, behind football. The country has the highest concentration of courts in the world, the professional circuit is anchored there, and most of the top players and the manufacturers come from there. It is why our courts are made in Spain and nowhere else.
Next
London
Padel Playa brings the Spanish court to a British club. London first. Playa means beach, and the name is a nod to where the game was raised; everything else about the club is British, down to the ninety minutes and the clubhouse it sits in.
The Spanish connection
Padel is the second most played sport in Spain, behind football. The country has the highest concentration of courts in the world, the professional circuit is anchored there, and most of the top players came up through it.
It is where the game was refined, and it is where our courts are made — glass, steel and turf, built by people who have been building them for as long as the game has existed. Everything else about the club is British, down to the ninety minutes and the room you sit in afterwards.
See where the first one goes
The founders
Padel Playa is led by Andrew and George Criticos.
AC
Co-founder | Operations, members & partnerships
The day-to-day life of the club: its members, coaching programme, social calendar and partnerships. Andrew looks after the things that turn a place to play into a place to belong.
GC
Co-founder | Build, property & delivery
The club taking shape: construction, property, project delivery and the business behind it. George looks after the build and the details that make the finished club work.
The standard
01Ninety minutes, never sixty.
02Courts from Spain, the heart of the game.
03Coaching in fours, not forties.
04Levelled play, so every match is close.
05A club inside a club, not a unit on an estate.
06Nobody plays alone unless they want to.
Who it is for
Padel is doubles. The people you play with matter as much as the court.
01
You have never held a racket. Start with an intro session and you will be rallying inside ten minutes.
02
You came from tennis or squash. Levelled play, coaching and competitions that will keep you honest.
03
A court, a coach and an afternoon everyone can play. Enquire
04
Run a club with room for padel? We build and operate inside established venues. Talk to us
“Playa means beach. Padel was popularised in Spain, the Mecca of padel, the heart and soul of the game. This is about showcasing and respecting the roots of the sport.”
The waiting list
Be first to hear when the courts are ready.
One email when we open. One when founding memberships are released. Nothing else.
Sign the book
A name and an email address. It takes a moment, and it is the only thing we will ever ask you for.
Add my name