Chippenham to get new indoor padel venue in former Tesco unit

Chippenham’s former Tesco unit at Emery Gate Shopping Centre is being turned into four indoor padel courts, with Padel Chippenham set to open in September. The fit-out will also include a MultiBall interactive entertainment wall with more than 45 games, changing facilities, refreshments, and equipment hire and purchase, giving the project the feel of a leisure destination rather than a single-sport hall.

The conversion matters because it gives a vacant supermarket shell a fast new use in the middle of town. A former Tesco store closed in August 2024, leaving a large retail unit that now becomes the sort of indoor space padel operators want: central, weatherproof, and capable of taking multiple courts under one roof. For owners, that is an easier route back to footfall and rental income than waiting for a conventional retail occupier, and it shows how dead shopping-centre space can be repurposed without the long timelines tied to a full rebuild.

Acorn Property Group, which owns Emery Gate, says the venue is being used to bring new experiences, energy and footfall into the centre while the wider redevelopment continues. That wider plan, branded Chippenham Riverside, was approved by Wiltshire Council in February 2026 and carries a £50 million price tag. It is expected to deliver more than 200 new homes and around 4,000 square metres of commercial space, alongside new public areas, landscaping and better links between Chippenham’s High Street, Island Park and the River Avon.

Earlier planning material for the scheme referred to 225 homes and 17 new units, including retail, leisure, health, food and beverage uses, underlining that the padel club is an interim piece of a much larger reset for the site. Chippenham Town Council’s planning committee raised no objection to the redevelopment, subject to design amendments, extra information and financial contributions toward cycle infrastructure, public art and public open space.

The club is being pitched as more than a book-and-play venue. A job listing described it as a brand-new premium indoor padel facility in Emery Gate, serving players of all ages and abilities, with leagues, tournaments, corporate events, coaching programmes and a social area. That mix points to the model padel is increasingly adopting in Britain: using flexible indoor retail space to combine sport, hospitality and repeat visits, rather than relying only on committed club players.