Padel emerges as latest plan for long-vacant Liverpool site

A plot off Speke Boulevard that has been earmarked for a hotel, trampoline park, and a carvery over the last 15 years could finally be redeveloped into a six-court padel complex.

Located off Longman Drive next to the Dobbies garden centre, Velocity Leisure’s 1.7-acre site has been the subject of various redevelopment proposals but none have come to fruition.

The first scheme to secure consent on the site was a Toby Carvery-anchored F&B complex proposed by Peel Investments.

Starbucks and Subway were also interested in the development, approved in 2012, but the plans did not progress. Veolicty acquired the site in 2017 and is now taking its third run at developing it.

Plans for a 150-bed hotel were approved in 2021, however, a lack of brand or operator interest meant the scheme “floundered”, according to a planning statement accompanying the padel application and prepared by J10 planning.

Prior to that, a 23,000 sq ft trampoline centre was proposed. This too failed to progress “due to the competitiveness of the trampoline market”, J10 said.

The padel scheme aims to capitalise on the sports growing popularity, delivering six covered courts and a clubhouse, as well as 150 parking spaces.

DMC Architecture and Design is advising on the scheme.

To learn more, search for reference number 26F/0003 on Liverpool City Council’s planning portal.