Padel and beyond: where leisure planning is heading next (2021 - Oct 2026)
With padel court applications soaring over the last 5 years, we looked at the planning data to see where padel courts are being built and what other leisure formats are starting to follow.
In just 5 years, the number of people playing padel in the UK has grown from 89,000 to 1 million. Planning applications for new courts have climbed just as steeply. In this report you can see how many padel applications there were year on year, as well as see where they are being built. We've also taken a look at other emerging trends in the leisure space; saunas/cold plunge and pilates studios have similarly risen over the past 5 years with further projected growth for 2027.
Why is the data important?
Padel is still growing and this data shows us where. Padel applications have grown from 46 in 2021 to 634 by the end of Oct 2026 and it's not a peak that has passed. 249 different councils received a padel application this year, up from 36 in 2021, evidencing the sector is continuing to spread in new areas. Get ahead of the boom and understand where in the UK is most likely to approve new padel courts and how applications have been tracking overtime.
Similarly, spot what is emerging alongside it. Applications for saunas/cold plunges and pilates studios are showing similar climbing patterns too. Get ahead of the rest of the market.
This isn't just a trend report, it's a guide to where leisure formats are getting planning permission, starting with the sector that is still growing fastest.
What's inside
- An overview of the padel, sauna/cold plunge and pilates markets from the past 5 years
- Insights into where the applications are being submitted across the country per market
- The hotspot councils for each
- A searchable table of councils for padel applications by approval rates & application count
- Growth metrics over the past 5 years for saunas/cold plunges and pilates studios
- Example sites of each using Searchland's site sourcing tool
- Data spanning 2021 - Oct 2026
Want to use this data in your own site-finding workflow?
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