Padel plans approved for Preston

Padel enthusiasts in Preston will have another place where they can play the sport after a new facility was given the green light in the city.

The centre – on Mercer Street in Fishwick – will become one of half a dozen padel venues in Preston after being approved by Preston City Council’s planning committee   It will include 10 courts whose varying sizes will be able to accommodate single, double or group matches of the increasingly popular racket game.

The venture will open within two vacant warehouse-style units on the Fishwick Park commercial estate, which will be merged and converted.

Players will be welcomed from 6am until midnight, seven days a week – giving a total of 180 hours of court time a day at the facility across all of its playing areas.

A viewing area is also part of the plans, along with an exercise and gym space and a café.   The site is served by almost 50 parking spaces.

The application – by Padel Out Preston Ltd. – was given the go-ahead by the committee with little discussion.

A report by council planning officers – who recommended the proposal be approved – noted that the site was previously allocated for what is known as ‘employment use’ in the industrial and distribution sectors.   However, they concluded that its loss would not lead to “an unacceptable reduction” of such facilities in the city.

One of the units that will be converted was most recently home to the retailer GhostBikes, which moved online only late last year;  the other has been empty for a longer period.   The wider Fishwick Park plot includes two trampoline parks and a vape shop.

Padel is already on offer in at least four locations in Preston: on Corporation Street, near the city centre, Caxton Road in Fulwood, the Broughton and District Club, off Whittingham Lane, and at the West View Leisure Centre on Ribbleton Lane.

The game is also set to feature as part of an indoor sports complex being developed in the former B&Q store off North Road, close to the University of Lancashire.

The town hall planning report said of the Fishwick Park site: “The development is considered to be acceptable, with the proposed change of use being appropriate for the locality.”