Hurlands, the new investment vehicle of Bridges co-founder Philip Newborough, is targeting the UK's next big leisure growth story as it prepares to open its first flagship pickleball and padel centre.
News of Newborough's ambitions ought to have landlords picking up the phone as he has a history of building major leisure businesses from scratch. As co-founder of impact investor Bridges, and chief executive from 2002 to 2024, he pioneered the first low-cost gym concept in the UK, taking The Gym Group from a single site to initial public offering. He did the same with gym concept Viva Gym in Iberia, building it from 15 gyms to over 100 before selling it to private equity firm Providence Equity Partners last year. He was a lead investor in the Hoxton Hotel group and The Office Group, the flexible offices operator sold to Blackstone.
Newborough stepped down as CEO at Bridges last year, although he remains an executive chairman of the investment committee. Now he is turning his attention to what he describes as the "two fastest growing sports in the world" via Hurlands.
A first site will open in Farnham in Surrey in January. The £2.75 million project will include 13 indoor pickleball and padel courts at the Farnham Trading Estate, with the emphasis on pickleball, a sport that has taken the US by storm in recent years but remains relatively unknown in the UK. The centre will have 10 pickleball courts and three padel courts – a sister sport that is more popular in the UK. It also proposes social spaces, yoga, Pilates studios, treatment rooms, changing facilities and a club shop.
Waverley Borough Council granted planning permission for the redevelopment of the warehouse at the Farnham Trading Estate last year. It owns the freehold of the 60,000-square-foot building, while Rainier Developments, which owns the long lease, has leased the building to Hurlands.
The opportunity
Pickleball and padel have exploded in popularity globally in recent years as low-impact racquet games for two or four players. Pickleball blends elements of badminton, tennis and table tennis, while padel is a mix of tennis, squash and badminton.
The Farnham club will act as a template for what Hurlands is planning across the UK, and also promises to be the first professional standard pickleball centre in the country. It will be open to players of all ages and abilities, with no annual sports memberships. Instead, it will operate pay on demand sessions for newcomers and competitive facilities for more experienced players. There will be 176 parking spaces and full disabled access.
Newborough is an evangelist for the two sports. "Padel originated in Mexico and is now played by 30 million people across the world, with its popularity strongest in Europe and South America. There are now 400,000 people playing padel in the UK, up from very few in pre Covid times. There are 900 courts in the UK and it is growing rapidly," he says.
The problem with much of what is being offered in the UK, he says, is the sport is played on a largely enclosed court like squash and ideally needs at least 8 metres to enable the key shot – the lob – once a player is proficient. And here Newborough aims to provide centres that are unique in a competitive market, because of their height.
But it is with pickleball that Newborough sees the most opportunity to grow a major business in the UK.
"Pickleball is much bigger globally with 50 million people in America having played it – that's around 20% of the population. And 20 million of those are playing regularly. There are 11,000 courts in the USA alone and it is very popular in Canada, Australia and Malaysia. But it is much more nascent in the UK. There are about 45,000 people in the UK playing but there was 73% growth in the last year."
The opportunity to respond to untapped demand is significant, Newborough says.
"We only know of 17 purpose-built courts in the UK for pickleball. It is played at around 200 venues but these are often with temporary lines on outdoor and indoor centres. Chains are rolling out padel courts but not pickleball. At Hurlands, we are creating a real destination, a full health and fitness club, not unlike a David Lloyd. We are offering both courts in a 60,000-square-foot unit with a load of parking."
In terms of how people pay to play, Newborough adds: "We see the idea of membership for £250 a month idea as old hat. We want it to be accessible so it is pay-as-you-go and it will be sensibly priced. And we are majoring in pickleball. These are the first courts for the sport of any scale in the UK. We have already been picked to host the European leg of the pro pickleball tour and the final of the amateur [Premier Pickleball League] competition."
What is Newborough's ultimate ambition for Hurlands?
Newborough is looking for another four to five centres around London and the South East, at least, to open over the next year. The group will look at freehold acquisitions but in general will seek long-term full repairing and insuring leases on space of over 30,000 square feet. Savills is advising.
"It is competitive for padel sites, but in our favour will be we are majoring on pickleball and there will be a lot of sites we will take that are not suitable for padel given the height restrictions."
The group is looking at older industrial locations where a unit is no longer suitable as a warehouse and could be repurposed. It is also bidding on out-of-town retail warehouses, and looking at empty space such as open storage sites and car parks, or other leisure uses like golf driving ranges and equestrian.
"We can build covered courts. The reality is you can do it very cost-effectively and there are some that will do that. But that is not what we are looking to create. My personal view is demand in the short-term greatly outstrips supply and you can provide a cheap option. But in the long term I think that will out and people will gravitate to those high quality clubs. We will start in the South East as from a practical management point of view it will be important to have them as well clustered as possible."
The aspiration is to create destination clubs across the UK.
"Hurlands is my project with personal investment alongside Enterprise Investment Scheme money from people who have been involved with the ventures I have been behind over the years."
Newborough says he has built a high-quality team with significant commercial experience in rolling out successful leisure businesses, combined with a team of elite pickleball and padel players.
"Richard Love is general manager – he is already over-50s English singles, mixed-doubles and doubles champion this year in pickleball in the UK. Sally Grace and Andre Strachan on the team were mixed doubles champions in 2024 and Sally was ladies doubles champion."
The combination of skills will provide another key point of difference in what Newborough hopes will be a major new leisure player in the UK.