A long-established tennis club with roots stretching back to the 1950s is fighting for its future after a group seeking to install padel courts reportedly offered the landowner six times the rent currently paid for the site.
Victory Ground Tennis Club pays £4,000 a year to lease land for two tennis courts at the Victory Sports Ground in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
However, the owners of the Victory Sports Ground, founded 106 years ago, have asked the club to raise its rent after what is said to be a £25,000 offer to develop four padel courts on the land.
The row has become another flashpoint in the growing “tennis versus padel” debate across the UK, where the rapid rise of the newer racket sport is putting pressure on traditional tennis facilities.
Opponents of padel, a sport followed by high-profile fans including Prince William, David Beckham and Stormzy, have criticised the disappearance of long-standing and much-loved tennis courts. Some residents living near padel venues have also complained about loud, “gunshot”-like sounds from play and the behaviour of foul-mouthed players.
Supporters, meanwhile, say padel is booming and that its fast-growing community of players urgently needs more courts to meet demand.
Victory Ground Tennis Club spokesman Steve Daniel told the Mail: “It’s the loss of a facility as a community sport to be replaced by a money-making venture.”
He added: “It would be a crying shame if we ended up in Bury St Edmunds with just one set of tennis courts and obviously multiple padel courts.”
Mr Daniel said the 180 members of the tennis club were willing to fight to preserve their existence but admitted: ‘We haven’t got a bottomless pit of money.’
Victory Sports Ground, founded 106 years ago, with the tennis club’s two courts shown in the bottom left
‘There’s no guarantee that this padel is still going to be a thing in five or ten years. It’s not like tennis that’s obviously been running for hundreds of years.’
He also argued the padel courts could be accommodated elsewhere in the grounds, which have football and cricket pitches, a sports hall, dance studio, croquet club and pavilion including a bar and kitchen.
The sports ground, which celebrated its centenary in 2020, was provided by a director of Green King Brewery to celebrate his male children who had survived the First World War.
It was sold to St Edmunsbury Borough Council in 1975 and later handed over to a not-for-profit, volunteer-run Community Interest Company, with £2 million raised for its redevelopment in 2013.
Paul Whittaker, a director of Victory Sports Ground CIC who is also chairman of Bury St Edmunds Cricket Club, confirmed there had been an offer from a ‘national organisation’ to invest ‘hundreds of thousands’ in building the padel courts.
But he refused to reveal who the organisation is, stating the CIC is subject to a Non-Disclosure Agreement, even though discussions are informal at the moment.
He also claimed the bid received was not £25,000 but wouldn’t say how much it was.
Mr Whittaker said the facility needed to ensure it had ‘sufficient income coming in’ as it lost money last year, despite an overall income of around £50,000.
This included a grant of £15,000 from West Suffolk Council – although he said ten years ago it had been £40,000.
‘We haven’t set a figure [for the tennis club] and were open with them about the situation and that all the tenants within the Victory Ground would be looked at in terms of their payments because the support we’ve enjoyed from the council for many years is declining,’ he told the Mail.
‘To be honest, tennis was making such a small payment that it was hardly worth looking at the rent they were paying.
‘It’s somewhat disappointing that we had discussions with them earlier this year and said we’d be prepared to give them a long-term lease rather than just annual rent and then they’d be able to get further funding from the Lawn Tennis Association. That’s how it works.
‘We asked them to come up with some thoughts on what they could do financially if granted a long-term lease and they offered to pay an extra £500 [per year] which, to be frank, was pretty ridiculous.
‘They agreed to go away and come back with a proper proposal but we’ve heard diddly squat until this week, when they went beserk.’
Mr Whittaker also claimed there were other tennis facilities available in the town including one on the outskirts with ’13 courts, including some which are indoors’.
But Mr Daniel, whose club has around 180 members including a third who are under-18, added: ‘We’re definitely digging our heels in.
Victory Ground Tennis Club spokesman Steve Daniel told the Mail: ‘It’s the loss of a facility as a community sport to be replaced by a money-making venture’
‘We are willing to fight this 100 per cent. There’s no backing down from us but, unfortunately, we haven’t got a bottomless pit of money.’
Padel was founded in Mexico in 1969 – compared to 12th century roots for tennis – and is claimed to be the world’s fasted growing sport.
As of last year, there were 893 courts for the racquet sport, which is described as a mix between tennis and squash as it is played in an enclosed area.
Around 400,000 people play in Britain, up from 15,000 in 2019 according to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which has invested more than £6 million in the pastime.
The courts are around a third the size of a tennis court and matches are always played as doubles, not singles.
Supporters argue it is more accessible than tennis as there is more emphasis on tactics than power and speed.
But it has upset fans of tennis – including 24 times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic, who warned his sport is becoming ‘endangered’ by venues converting to padel or pickleball courts.
Neighbours of padel courts have also complained about their lives being ruined by noisy players.
Padel is played on an enclosed court – slightly smaller than a tennis court – and players use solid racquets to hit the ball (File image)
Paul Whittaker, a director of Victory Sports Ground CIC, confirmed there had been an offer from a ‘national organisation’ to invest ‘hundreds of thousands’ in building the padel courts
Last month, Barnt Green Sports Club in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, lost an appeal against a Noise Abatement Notice issued by the district council after ‘explosive and unpredictable’ noise from padel throughout the day was found to have caused a statutory nuisance.
The club – which said it had taken action including reducing operating hours and erecting signs urging considerate use of the facilities – was ordered to pay the council’s £48,500 legal costs from the appeal heard at Kidderminster Magistrates Court.
Wealthy homeowners living by one club in the cathedral city of Winchester, Hampshire, said they have to put up with loud bangs from padel courts at all hours of the day.
The popularity of padel has ‘boomed’ over the last couple of years, but people living near the courts have said the noise would be classed as ‘antisocial behaviour’ in any other setting.
The residents next to Winchester Racquets and Fitness in Hampshire said the ‘thwack’ of the ball being struck is so loud it is like a gunshot.
They said the noise starts just after breakfast and leaves them cowering inside for the entirety of the day.
Jenni Chilvers, 76, complained that the noise of the ball hitting the bat created a loud ‘cracking’ sound that was similar to ‘gunshots’.
To make matters worse, she also heard ‘foul language’ coming from the courts, with people would be ‘shrieking’ and ‘shouting’ while playing padel.
Elsewhere, residents in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, say that padel courts built without planning consent at a nearby gym has ruing their summer with the constant zinging of balls.
People living near David Lloyd’s Club are up in arms about the racket which they say began when the two outside courts was built in December 2023.
The area on the outskirts of the town includes protected woodland, and is rich in wildlife such as bats, owls and squirrels.
Residents say the noise had been going on all summer, with many residents claiming they are frightened to go in their gardens because of it.
Before then, the club only offered tennis facilities, which the householders insist was not a problem.
Bob Wilkinson, 77, said: ‘We have lived here for years. We have had tennis courts which were a smooth gentle noise. Then suddenly these padel courts were built. The noise is very different.
‘It is a like a rifle shot. It can sometime be three or four minutes continuous. The local authority measured 78 loud strikes in just four minutes. It is just really annoying.’
In August last year, plans for a padel court in Norwich were approved by city councillors despite objectors warning the noise would cause ‘psychological harm’.
Barbara Goodwin, who lives nearby, said: ‘Padel noise is concentrated in one small area on a court surrounded by glass and metal mesh walls, which amplify the sound.’
Plans were announced last year to replace tennis courts built at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in north-east London for the 2012 Olympics being replaced with padel courts.
They were shelved following a backlash that included a petition signed by more than 2,000 people.
An LTA spokesman said: ‘As the national governing body for both tennis and padel, the LTA wants to see the two sports sit by side-by-side, rather than one developing to the detriment of the other.
‘While we are supportive of venues that wish to integrate new padel facilities alongside their existing operations to evolve their offering, we do not support the straight replacement of tennis courts for padel courts, particularly in cases such as Victory Ground where tennis participation is strong.
‘We hope a solution can be identified which can retain the existing tennis courts on the site whilst allowing for the development of new padel facilities for the local community.’
