Padel club in talks for ‘rare’ Manchester leisure space
Padel Social Club is eyeing a chunk of the 100,000 sq ft Victoria Exchange for its first Northern venue.
Located within the Manchester Arena complex, the space was previously home to offices and the Arena 7 cinema and could soon become a padel club, subject to planning approval.
The three-floor venue would offer 14 courts, nine indoor and another five, including an exhibition court, on the roof. It is understood the club will occupy around 50,000 sq ft should the deal complete.
Padel Social Club currently only has venues in London. Its arrival in Manchester would add to the growing supply of padel courts in the city. Over recent years a glut of applications to deliver facilities to satisfy demand for the fast-growing sport have come forward, and several venues are operational.
The closest to Padel Social Club’s proposed site is Pure Padel’s Dutton Street venue, which offers six indoor courts.
Zebra Architects is leading on the design of Manchester’s latest padel club and Savills is advising landlord LondonMetric on planning.
To learn more, search for reference number 143558/FO/2025 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
The space came to market last summer with specialist consultancy Stärka appointed by LondonMetric to lease the opportunity, which was branded as Victoria Exchange.
Speaking at the time, Stärka’s David Bell said the space represented a rare opportunity given its size and location within the wider arena complex.
All parties were contacted for comment.
Whilst I like the use these Padel operators are generally weak covenants and if they are around in the next 5 years I’ll be amazed
By Jonty H
There’s a lack of sporting facilities around the city but it’s weird that so much padel is popping up, can’t be sustainable
By Anonymous
Formby is crying out for more padel courts Belly.
By Anon