Like many others, I was surprised when I heard back in summer that the last few indoor football pitches at the old JJB Soccerdome in Pride Park were gone. That place served up many a memory over the course of my childhood, from Saturday morning training sessions to brilliant birthday parties.
The number of indoor pitches had been reduced significantly a few years ago when Oxygen Freejumping arrived and occupied half the space. But half a decade later, that and all remnants of the beautiful game are gone.
In its place, it was announced, was a “padel tennis centre”. I was just as baffled as everyone else.
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Operated by a brand called We Are Padel, the refurbished arena opened in June 2022 and hosted World Championship qualifiers for the sport in late September. The Derby branch is currently the only one in the UK, with the majority of We Are Padel sites currently situated in Denmark, alongside a couple in Germany and the UAE.
There’s one meant to be opening in London soon. But for now, Derby’s the only place you can play it – so we went to give it a shot.
Booking
To play, you’ve first got to book, which you can’t do in person or over the phone – so not great for those less adept at technology. Booking is done online on the We Are Padel website or via a third-party Spanish sport app called Playtomic, which – as I’ll explain – has nothing to do with We Are Padel.
I chose the former option and it wasn’t the best idea. The site seems to be in its infancy, with links to the about page seemingly just redirecting to what looks like a homepage.
I booked a court but somehow had selected 7pm instead of 8.30pm as I intended, and wasn’t sure whether this had been my error or an error of the slightly dysfunctional website.
I rang up to explain, but they can’t change the booking there (because they have nothing to do with Playtomic). Luckily for us, there was no one else booked in at 8.30, so we just turned up late and still had the place to ourselves, but make sure you double-check when you do book, because once that money’s left your account, there’s nothing the centre itself can do about it.
The place
Unlike the Soccerdome days, the bar is now no longer separated from the warehouse and instead of walking through the back and turning right, you access all the tennis courts via the bar. The reception desk, where you receive your rackets and balls, is in the bar area on the other side of the warehouse wall. All of …….