Hove Beach Park at 97% occupancy for the past six months

Our courts at Hove Beach Park, operated on behalf of Brighton & Hove City Council, have reported consistently high padel court usage for the past six months.

We opened the courts at Hove Beach Park in December 2024, and since then, players have flocked to the site to play the world’s fastest growing sport. Since March 2025, court usage has been 97% on average every week.

A recent survey of padel players in the area showed that 36% of people are more active since they started playing padel, and that the main barrier to playing more padel is court availability.

We have four padel courts at Hove Beach Park which are open from 8am to 10pm, with a total of 392 hours of court time available per week.

The padel courts were installed by Brighton & Hove City Council as part of an ambitious regeneration project of the underused facilities and green space on the seafront in West Hove. A new park stretching from Hove Lagoon to the King Alfred Leisure Centre was opened earlier this year including the four padel courts and six tennis courts, all operated by Game4Padel.

We will be beginning work at Withdean Sports Complex on three new outdoor padel courts, with a canopy this Autumn.

Commenting on the figures, our CEO Michael Gradon said: “There is a thriving padel community in Brighton and Hove, and because the courts are very visible in the excellent location on Hove seafront, there is also huge demand from new people who want to take up this sport.

“We know it has been frustrating for some of our members who have found it difficult to get court availability at Hove Beach Park, so we are looking at changing our booking process to make it easier and fairer for people to book in advance.

“We always knew Hove Beach Park would be a popular destination for padel, with an active local population and plenty of tourists throughout the Summer, and coupled with the great weather we’ve had recently, it’s meant our courts are busy almost all of the time.”

Councillor Alan Robins, Cabinet member for sport, recreation and libraries said: “It’s great to see the padel courts at Hove Beach Park are being so well used and attracting residents and visitors to our lovely new seafront park.  

“We are looking forward to opening three additional outdoor covered padel courts at Withdean Sports Complex and providing many more opportunities for residents to enjoy this exciting and fast-growing sport.

“In addition, over the last four months, we have been working with the Lawn Tennis Association on a city wide padel strategy, to bring the sport to many more communities across the city.”