Shrewsbury company wins approval for private padel court for staff

Morris & Company Ltd has won permission for a private padel court at Bicton Business Park, but the access rules are as revealing as the approval itself: only employees will play there, and only four people can be on court at once.

The Shrewsbury firm’s plan covers a 740sqm building on the site about three miles west of the town centre. Half of it will be an indoor B8 storage area for the company’s joinery business, while the other half will hold a single padel court with changing rooms and an upper viewing platform. The court will sit inside the firm’s internal Morris Sport & Social Club and will not be open to the public.

Around 50 employees are based on site at Bicton Business Park, so the court is unlikely to function as a mass amenity. It is a tightly controlled benefit, built for a small pool of users rather than the wider Shrewsbury market.

Morris & Company said the scheme would not generate extra vehicle movements because the storage section would simply bring materials that are already kept outside under cover.

Noise was the main objection. Environmental Protection officers raised concerns about padel sound, describing it as “distinct, highly impulsive, and percussive,” before permission was ultimately granted.

The company’s move lands inside a much bigger surge in Britain. The Lawn Tennis Association said in May 2025 that more than 400,000 adults and juniors had played padel at least once in the previous year, up from 129,000 at the end of 2023 and 15,000 in 2019. The Lawn Tennis Association said in May 2026 that figure had climbed again to 860,000 players in 2025.

Shrewsbury School has already secured approval for three padel courts, and Henley Padel is due to open in the town as part of the sport’s local spread. Morris & Company’s court is smaller and more private than either of those projects.