Padel is currently the fastest-growing sport in Europe – a fast-paced racquet game that blends the best bits of tennis and squash. It’s played in doubles on an enclosed glass court about a third smaller than a tennis court, with under-arm serves and lots of rallies off the walls. The rules are simple, and the game is inherently social – which is exactly why it has exploded across Europe and now the UK. Compared with traditional tennis, padel is less about perfect technique and more about fun and clever positioning. This makes it ideal for busy adults, friendship groups, families, and mixed ability players – in other words, precisely the kind of people who typically join premium health clubs like David Lloyd.
Across the UK, padel is moving from “niche curiosity” to mainstream. Recent estimates show more than 90 padel venues and over 250 courts in England. With a heritage in racquet sports, David Lloyd Clubs has leaned into this trend early and decisively. They now operate 127 courts across 44 clubs, with plans to exceed 220 courts with more than 100 clubs offering padel as the rollout continues. The number of David Lloyd members playing padel has grown from approximately 3,300 monthly players in April 2023 to over 18,100 by April 2025 – a five-fold increase in just 2 years.
David Lloyd is currently the UK’s largest operator of padel courts and explicitly positions itself as “perfectly placed to grow padel in the UK and beyond,” seeing padel as part of its broader offering as a lifestyle brand that supports the whole life of a member: sport, wellness, social, kids, family and work.
What’s important from a media perspective isn’t just the court count; it’s the growing density of padel across the estate. As more clubs add padel, more members build the sport into their weekly routine – and that creates repeat footfall, longer dwell times, and more impacts for brands featuring on Boomerang’s in-club D6 screens.
Recent research by Norstat for Boomerang supports this: members are visiting their club 4 times a week and they’re spending more than 2 hours there each time. This is a huge time-investment and clearly demonstrates the special relationship that exists between members and their David Lloyd Club.
Padel also sits in a sweet spot for brands wanting to make a positive association:
- It’s trendy but still relatively early-stage, so brands can feel like they’re backing something fresh and aspirational,
- It’s social and doubles-based meaning players arrive in groups, socialise before and after their game
- It’s tightly linked to health, performance, lifestyle and leisure, all of which map neatly to premium product categories.
David Lloyd – one of the UK’s most powerful premium media environments.
Boomerang’s partnership with the group sees 280+ D6 screens installed across 100+ UK clubs, located in high-traffic, high-dwell areas like reception, club lounges, and gym floors. If you overlay the rise of padel onto that, the media network clubs become an even richer environment for brands: members aren’t just dropping in for a quick treadmill session – they’re meeting friends, playing doubles, working remotely, using the creche, grabbing a drink, and turning the club into a lifestyle necessity and a brand engagement opportunity that extends way beyond the traditional gym space.
Article by Josh Bingham
Padel photo: Oliver Sjöström
