Tennis club fears being replaced by padel courts

An 80-year-old tennis club said it feared being forced out of a sports facility and replaced with padel.

Victory Ground Tennis Club pays £4,000 a year to rent two courts at the Victory Sports Ground Complex in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

But membership secretary Steve Daniel, 52, said the club had been told that a padel company was interested in the site and would pay a substantial amount more to be based there.

Victory Sports Ground CIC, which runs the facility, confirmed to the BBC that discussions with other prospective suitors had been held but no decisions had been made.

Daniel said the club, one of just two in the town, had worked since the Covid-19 pandemic to increase its membership, which now sits at about 170 people.

He claimed, however, that the facility was looking to re-purpose the courts the club currently uses.

"We've said we would double our rent, and we could afford that because we are now bringing in more money," PE teacher Daniel added.

"But we just cannot afford to be talking about figures where it's going up by 500%. It's just impossible."

For those who want to play padel in the area, there are courts at Risbygate Sports Club, where there is also tennis, and the Padel Shed in Whepstead.

The David Lloyd gym similarly has padel courts for its members.

Padel is currently one of the fastest-growing sports in the world and is a blend of tennis and squash.

Research from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) last year shows 860,000 adults and juniors in the country now play the sport, more than double the previous year.

Meanwhile, LTA research found that over the five years from 2019-2023, adults playing tennis at least once a year in the country had grown by 44% to around 5.6 million people, with children's annual participation similarly growing to 3.6 million.

Victory Sports Ground was initially purchased by a director of Greene King Brewery in celebration of his children all surviving World War One.

In 1975, the ground was sold to the former St Edmundsbury Borough Council before Victory Sports Ground CIC, which operates as a not-for-profit, bought the freehold in 2013.

Paul Whittaker, from the ground, disputed that the tennis club had returned to the negotiating table offering to pay double the rent for its two courts.

But he did confirm that the organisation had been contacted by a padel company and a five-a-side football team interested in potentially using the area.

"We do not want to get rid of tennis, but we are trying to increase participation numbers and get maximum use out of the facilities," he said.

"An example of what might be possible is certainly paddle and five-a-side - they are two good examples that are taking over tennis courts because they fit the job.

"We have been approached [by companies] that have expressed interest, and we have held discussions with them, and that's what we've told the tennis club.

"We've been honest with the tennis club about what we are doing, but we are not saying that's what's going to happen because we don't know what could happen."

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