Armley padel centre approved with six courts and 12 jobs

Plans for a Leeds padel centre in a vacant Armley warehouse have been approved by Leeds City Council, bringing six indoor courts and 12 jobs to Carr Crofts Drive. Horsforth-based Power Padel Group Ltd will convert the empty industrial unit, which was last used for shop fitting manufacturing, storage and distribution.

Six courts at Carr Crofts Drive

The scheme creates four doubles courts and two singles courts in the main warehouse space, alongside separate changing rooms with showers, a cafe and bar and a viewing area. Solar panels will be fitted to the roof and the site has 29 parking spaces. The courts would open from 6am to 11pm.

The centre is expected to provide four full-time and eight part-time jobs. The council’s planning officer’s report said the proposal would “bring a vacant industrial unit back into productive use” while supporting health and wellbeing, creating jobs and securing investment in an existing building.

A noise impact assessment found people living nearby would not be disturbed. The council said the site sits within an established industrial estate, separated from the nearest homes by substantial distances and the railway corridor.

In its design statement, Power Padel Group said the facility would give Leeds residents “an excellent facility to enjoy this fast growing and increasingly popular sport”.

Leeds padel centre approvals in 2026

Carr Crofts Drive is the latest Leeds padel centre to win approval this year. In July, councillors approved Ollo Padel’s plans for the Grade II* listed Roundhouse on Wellington Road, with nine outdoor courts and an indoor coaching court. The Victorian engine shed was built in 1847 for the Leeds and Thirsk Railway Company.

Eight courts were also approved at the Versa Studios site in Holbeck. That scheme, on part of a former film studio on Whitehall Road, is expected to create around 15 jobs. A warehouse on Dolly Lane in Burmantofts, near St James’s University Hospital, won permission for indoor courts and a pilates studio in September.

Operators are also expanding elsewhere in the city. Optimum Padel, backed by former Leeds United midfielder Stuart Dallas, was due to open an eight-court club in Cross Green in March. Slazenger Padel Clubs, owned by Frasers Group, runs a 12-court centre on Coal Road in Seacroft and submitted plans in March for a 13-court centre at Millshaw Park Lane in Beeston.

Sources: Slazenger Padel Clubs, Leeds South club page