The first fully indoor padel club is coming to Manchester later this year and is set to open just a 10-minute walk from Victoria Station for anyone looking to come into town for a game.
Seemingly one of the biggest crazes on the planet at the minute, while this is by no means the first padel facility to open in Greater Manchester, it is set to be the only place where you’ll be able to play the increasingly popular tennis-lite sport inside anywhere in the city centre.
With an existing site down the road in Alderely Park, Macclesfield, Pure Padel has already grown a loyal following since opening back in October 2023, but by bringing their expertise nice and central, their super accessible ‘pay to play’ approach is sure to take off even more.
You can see the renders of what the space is set to look down below:
Credit: Pure Padel
As you can see, the state-of-the-art setup will include six indoor panoramic padel courts and a mezzanine viewing platform to watch all the action.
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But there’s much more to this place than just playing surfaces.
Set to include a pro-padel shop, a bistro-style café and bar; fully equipped changing rooms with showers, plus the comfortable seating area upstairs on the mezz, there’s a bit of everything going on here.
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Further still, Pure Padel has ambitious plans to build another 30 padel clubs in the next five years, with eight currently in planning and a further 15 in the pipeline, with further expansion across their home county of Cheshire.
Plus, there’ll be free onsite parking and WiFi available to customers at this latest location set to open in Cheetham Hill – sounds simple but it’s always a nice bonus.
Credit: Supplied
Set up by two experienced Padel coaches – originally from mainland Europe where the game first took off – you can also rest easy in knowing that you’re getting the very experience of the sport you could hope for when Pure Padel lands in Manchester city centre.
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Co-founder and head of commercial operations, Sammy Arora, said: “Padel has taken the UK by storm – and the North West is slowly becoming a padel hub after leaders London and Bristol who set the scene…
“We hope bringing indoor padel to Manchester will help make it even more accessible to those living and working close by. Currently, north Manchester residents are travelling as far as Huddersfield, so we know there’s demand for more padel courts in the city centre that are reachable by car and public transport.
“Choosing a site so close to Victoria station is a real asset – we hope it’ll help bring players into the city centre who will go on to spend on hospitality and shopping to further support the local economy.”
Sammy went on to add: “Manchester’s cold and wet climate (fair point) makes our indoor proposition even more attractive to players who are looking to keep up padel year round. Unpredictable weather can really impact the game, so a club away from the elements ensures the best playing experience.”
Having got hooked on the sport back in Milan, he added: “It’s fantastic to see such a broad mix of people picking it up, from those who no longer play fast-paced racket sports like squash and tennis, or those wishing to step away from work for exercise and to socialise.”
Scheduled to open this August, you’ll be able to book courts simply through Playtomic from 7am right through to 10pm, with the easy-to-use app also enabling first-timers or solo players to find and play with others of a similar level and match them accordingly for a fun and fair game.
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No member fees either, just plain old fun and the ability to play as much or as little as you want without the constraints of the traditional sports club model. See you on the court sometime soon!
England’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 matches are to be shown on big screens for free in Manchester this summer.
As England women’s national football team look to retain their title and continue to build on their ever-growing success as one of the best national football teams in the world, Manchester‘s National Football Museum is set to host a series of family-friendly watch parties after hours for the UEFA Women’s Euros this summer.
Visitors of all ages are welcome to support and celebrate England as they kick-off their campaign against France in the group stages on 5 July, followed by matches against the Netherlands on 9 July, and Wales on 13 July.
As Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses head to Switzerland with the hopes of being crowned European champions, you can head to the National Football Museum for some safe and inclusive fun.
Not only will the matches be shown in all their glory for free on a big screen, but you can also expect an on-site bar, and even the option to pre-order pizza ahead of time to feast on while you’re watching the action.
Watch parties will be taking place at the National Football Museum on the following dates:
France v England – 5 July at 8pm
England v Netherlands – 9 July at 5pm
England v Wales – 13 July at 8pm
To mark the beginning of the tournament, the museum will also be hosting a vibrant weekend of events on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July, so get ready to strike a pose in Lionesses’ kits, create your own dazzling banner, and drum-up support with your very own chant.
Manchester’s National Football Museum is screening England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“This promises to be an exciting summer for football,” said Tim Desmond, who is the CEO of the National Football Museum.
“We want to bring the powerful sense of community that tournament football delivers to our museum, helping both new and returning visitors understand why football matters, and witness the impact our pioneering Lionesses can have in inspiring generations of budding young footballers.
“That’s why we are so delighted to be able to offer watch parties for this year’s tournament, providing a safe, inclusive, and exciting place for all fans to cheer on England.”
Featured Image – Molly Darlington / The FA (via England on Facebook)
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Manchester City confirm fourth signing of the summer as spending spree continues
Manchester City have officially revealed their fourth signing of the summer window after confirming the transfer of top target Tijjani Reijnders.
The highly sought-after Serie A midfielder joins the club from AC Milan on a five-year contract for an initial fee of approximately £46.5 million, after having been tracked by a number of clubs across Europe over the past season or so.
Reijnders, 26, registered 15 goals and five assists from central midfielder last season (more than any other player in the league) with Italian football journalist Mina Rzouki stating that he models his game on Kevin De Bruyne, making him the perfect replacement for the Belgian – on paper, at least.
Finally unveiled on Wednesday, 11 June, he is arguably the statement signing of what looks to be a continued spending spree which began back in January.
With Man City splashing roughly £200m to kick off the 2025 calendar year as they brought the likes of Omar Marmoush and a trio of defensively geared players in Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and CDM Nico Gonzalez, it seems like they started as they mean to go on.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak assured fans that the club would be picking up “several players” in a recent interview after he argued they hadn’t been aggressive enough last summer, and given that the current main window hasn’t even been open for a fortnight yet, we’d say he’s sticking to that promise.
This year actually marks a rare instance of the transfer window being broken up into two parts due to the FIFA Club World Cup (which City are among the favourites to win) and will then re-open on 16 June.
Nevertheless, the Blues look to have got plenty of their business done already, not only with the arrival of Reijnders but the acquisition of left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri earlier this week, plus another attack-minded midfielder, Rayan Cherki.
The second player of Algerian descent and the second signing of the summer window was quickly announced by the Man City social media team just before the Dutchman.
Along with the signing of a new shotstopper, Marcus Betinelli from Chelsea – set to replace former reserve goalkeeper Scott Carson, who left the club after six seasons on Monday – that makes it four new incoming already.
Once again, not only do these latest additions to Pep Guardiola’s squad take their transfer total to over £300m on new talent in 2025, but there is still plenty of time for City to sign even more players with the summer window not closing until 7pm BST on 1 September.
Although the club have now acquired all of the players they have been most publicly linked with so far, it’s unclear whether their spending will continue or if the focus now turns to the Club World Cup getting underway this month and preparing the current squad for next season.
What do you make of Man City‘s latest recruits? Don’t forget, there have been some new arrivals in the backroom as well.
Danny Jones -
21st June 2024 
