Read the original Press Release on the Padel Business Magazine Website.
Long-term vision: With its first site open in the north west of England, Soul Padel is aiming to offer an affordable and community-driven option for players across the country.
Mark Hewlett, founder and CEO of the UK firm Soul Padel, has ambitious plans for his company to become one of the biggest operators in the sport, and is committed to a holistic vision connecting elite and grassroots players. He speaks to Padel Business Magazine about his company’s strategy and future direction.
Having held senior roles at German discount retailers Lidl and Aldi, Woolworths of Australia, and as chief operating officer of the UK government’s Covid-19 testing programme, Mark Hewlett knows what it takes to build a large-scale operation.
The vastly experienced business executive, from Wigan in north west England, is now on a mission to use all his know-how from working in consumer-facing organisations to make padel an accessible sport across Britain.
“What I liked about the club was it was very social, very communal, very focused,” he recalls. “It wasn’t elitist or hierarchical, it was very much a down to earth sports club that welcomed everyone, and I learned a lot from that.”
He adds: “I looked at the business models for padel that have started to appear in the UK, in London particularly, and thought, how replicable is that, how scalable is that in northern England, in Lancashire and Yorkshire? How are people going to be able to afford to pay £60 or £70 to play padel?
“So our aim with Soul Padel is to welcome everyone to the court, and we’ve always intended to be affordable and accessible for everyone.”
Padel, known for its accessibility and social nature, is growing rapidly across the UK. It is a racket sport, typically played in doubles on an enclosed court; similar to tennis, it shares the same scoring system but uses different techniques and rules. With this partnership, Soul Padel and Bolton School aim to promote health, wellbeing, and active lifestyles among local residents, while providing an exciting opportunity for Bolton School students to experience and participate in a dynamic, engaging sport.
After proving a hit, Soul Padel has struck an agreement with Decathlon to keep the Stockport site open until next year and then convert both sites into permanent four-court, covered facilities. Each of the sites will be outdoors, with the courts under a canopy, alongside a small clubhouse.
Next year, as well as the Decathlon sites, Soul Padel is also due to open a four-court site in St Helens in partnership with the local authority, which approved plans for the opening of the site last week. The facility will be the only covered padel club in Merseyside. In addition, another four-court site, also in the north west, is set to open next year at Bolton School after the partnership was unveiled this week.
Amid growing interest in its activities, last month Soul Padel reached the milestone of 1,500 registered players in 150 days. Hewlett reveals there are around 400 people actively engaged in a WhatsApp group, while court utilisation is in excess of 80% on a weekly basis, which he says is “much higher than expected when we put our business case together.”
Soul Padel court bookings cost just £6 per person at off-peak times and £9 per person at peak times, with discounts on offer for activities and socials, such as booking a social event at £10 for two hours.
“So it’s very different to what’s being done elsewhere,” says Hewlett, adding that the sites will have the same prices wherever they are in the UK, so as to offer an affordable solution whatever the location. “We don’t intend to have price as a barrier to entry for padel. And it is in some places.”
Hewlett says the company is able to offer prices at that level due to its choice of sites and how they will be run, noting that some of the courts next to Decathlon stores are in unused car parks, for instance.
“We have four channels to market, with partnerships across retail, education and local authorities, and with leisure charitable trusts,” he explains. “We’ve had to take a different approach to our property strategy and our construction programme, and use lean disciplines across the operation which I’ve taken from my retail background.”
Hewlett says the ultimate aim is to open 250 courts by 2032. The rollout is being planned after Soul Padel secured £2 million of investment from a private family office. He reveals that discussions are now underway to secure a further £1.5 million from other investors.
Hewlett says the ultimate aim is to open 250 courts by 2032. The rollout is being planned after Soul Padel secured £2 million of investment from a private family office. He reveals that discussions are now underway to secure a further £1.5 million from other investors.
While the early court openings are likely to be in the north of the UK, Hewlett says that of the 80-plus sites currently under review, a quarter are in the south east.
He adds that as well as external funding, earnings will be invested back into the business. “We will have a huge reinvestment of profit from all those early sites. As shareholders and investors we’ve agreed we’re not going to take a dividend from the business until it can sustain the number of courts that we think we’re capable of getting to.
“So all our profits will be reinvested in the business in the early years. It shows confidence in what we’re doing and prevents us from diluting shareholding any further if we need to raise investment again. Those fiscal dynamics may be different to others who might want an immediate return or a very short-term return.”
As Hewlett looks to leverage links from his previous roles, Soul Padel is also looking to open new courts in Australia, with Soul Padel Pty. Ltd. now registered in Sydney.
Having lived with his family in the country, and with dual UK-Australia citizenship, Hewlett sees strong potential in the sport-mad nation.
“We’re in negotiations on opening sites in the eastern seaboard of Australia,” he says. “It would be a similar model to our sites in the UK – outdoor courts with a canopy. We’re hoping to put a couple of trial projects on the ground in Sydney in the first half of 2025. I think there’s significant room for growth.”
For now, though, the UK is the primary focus, and Hewlett stresses that as Soul Padel’s expansion across the country takes shape, a key priority is to develop and nurture a community rather than merely building courts to make a quick return.
Working with the LTA on encouraging more people to play padel
Soul Padel is also working closely with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) – the governing body for padel in the UK – on encouraging more people to play the sport, and has appointed Dean Hardman as a sports development director to engage national and local governing bodies, sports associations and government bodies aimed at encouraging all parts of society to take up physical activity as part of efforts to make the UK a more active and healthier nation.
Hewlett adds: “We also want to develop talent pathways, so we can start to bring people through our own clubs who are competing at intra and inter club level, and develop them and push them to the minor league development programmes run by the LTA. So my hope is we become a place where talent emerges.
“We’re taking a holistic approach to padel, and looking at how we get this sport to stick in the UK and be successful. We’re developing an ecosystem and trying to bring the elite and grassroots game together so players can have access to them and can see what an elite player looks like and how they play the game and can actually engage with them at a level that is relatable.
“Padel needs to do a lot more of that. If it’s not careful, it will develop an image problem in the UK of being elitist, hierarchical, expensive, inaccessible. We’re trying to change that dynamic completely.”
