PadelFest launches in Bristol with LTA backing and 1,000 players expected

PadelFest will make its debut at Rocket Padel Bristol on 19 September 2026, turning the UK’s largest padel centre into a one-day roadshow built around more than 1,000 players and visitors. The schedule is packed: open-court sessions, coaching clinics, brand activations, exhibitor stands and an evening LTA-graded mixed doubles tournament for 96 players.

The concept comes from George Modler and Ben Harris, the co-founders of The Padel Directory and the UK Padel Convention. That background matters because the pair have already shown they can draw the sport’s separate camps into the same room, with the first UK Padel Convention selling out and positioning itself as a meeting point for players, coaches, venues and brands.

Rocket Padel Bristol gives the launch a fitting stage. The club describes the Bristol site as the largest padel centre in the UK, and venue listings say it has 14 indoor courts, including 12 panoramic doubles courts and two singles courts. The club setting is central to the pitch here: this is not a closed-door elite event, but a full-day format designed to work for complete beginners, regular club players and competitive pairs in the same space.

The brand list already signals commercial weight. Adidas, Bullpadel, Pallap, Head, Tecnifibre, Dunlop, Oxdog, Raquex, Hirostar, Stiga and Bas3line are among the names involved, with more expected. That mix gives manufacturers a direct line to an expanding consumer base, while venue operators get a model that can fill courts, generate footfall and keep players on site for longer than a standard match night.

For the LTA, the attraction is clear. The governing body has backed the event as part of padel’s growth story in Britain, and the format fits the sport’s current needs: visible, club-based and easy to understand for newcomers without shutting out established players. Players and coaches stand to gain the most immediate value from the open sessions and clinics; brands get exposure; venue operators get traffic; and the LTA gets a repeatable template for how to stage the sport beyond elite competition.

The timing is no accident. The LTA said in March 2026 that 860,000 people played padel at least once in 2025, up from 400,000 at the end of 2024, 129,000 at the end of 2023 and 15,000 in 2019. By the end of 2025, Britain had 1,553 courts across 559 venues, compared with 870 courts at 293 venues a year earlier and just 69 courts when the LTA took over governance in 2020. The LTA also said it had invested more than £6 million in padel growth by February 2025, including £4.5 million toward 80 courts at 42 venues. PadelFest is arriving into that surge and trying to turn it into a roadshow that can travel, scale and keep the sport visible where it is growing fastest.