Work underway to bring four covered padel courts and clubhouse to Ayr United’s historic home
A new chapter in Ayrshire sport is getting underway as Soul Padel partners with Ayr United to bring one of the world’s fastest-growing sports to Somerset Park for the first time.
Work has begun on a brand-new Soul Padel club at the home of Ayr United, thought to be the first league club to develop padel on its grounds. This represents a £750k investment and marks the company’s second Scottish location and another major step in its ambition to grow the game across Scotland.
Located at Ayr United Football Club, Somerset Park, Ayr, the new venue will feature four covered padel courts and a dedicated clubhouse with shower and toilet facilities, creating a welcoming club for people to discover the sport, enjoy time with friends and get active throughout the year. The venue is expected to open in early spring 2027 and provide approximately 10 employment opportunities for local people.
The partnership brings together two sporting organisations with an opportunity to create something new for the local community, combining Ayr United’s established place in Scottish football with Soul Padel’s community-focused approach to growing participation in padel.
Founded in 2023, Soul Padel has built its approach around the belief that a great padel club should be about more than the courts themselves. This latest development in Ayr reflects a long-term commitment to bringing high-quality facilities and inclusive opportunities to more Scottish communities, helping more people experience the sport for the first time and giving existing players new places to play and build lasting connections.
Visitors to Soul Padel in Ayr can benefit from its established participation programmes including Soul Sisters, which encourages women to get involved in padel; Soul Timers, aimed at players aged 50 and over; Soul Circuit, its competitive league; Soul Family Play, offering discounted court hire for families; and What’s That Racket?, a schools initiative designed to introduce younger generations to the sport.
The Ayr venue follows the opening of Soul Padel Braehead in June 2026, the company’s first Scottish club. With further developments planned in Irvine and Dalkeith, Midlothian, the business is building a growing Scottish network designed to make padel more accessible to communities across the country.
Mark Hewlett, CEO and Founder of Soul Padel, said: “We’re incredibly excited to partner with Ayr United and get work underway to bring Soul Padel to Ayr. This is exactly the kind of partnership we want to build in Scotland, working with established local sporting organisations who are investing in their communities, to create something that opens up new opportunities for people to get active, meet others and discover a sport they can enjoy for years to come.
“We’re committed to investing in Scotland for the long term and Somerset Park is an exciting home for our next Scottish club. We look forward to welcoming the Ayrshire community to our club next year.”
David Smith, Chairman at Ayr United Football Club, said: “A football club should be about more than what happens on the pitch, it should play an important role in its community and create opportunities for people to get involved in sport. We pride ourselves on that and our commitment is reflected in developing our women’s and girls’ game, supporting our junior pathways and making sport accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
“Those values align closely with Soul Padel’s approach, and we see this partnership as a great opportunity to introduce more people across Ayrshire to a new sport, bring communities together and create another reason for people to visit Somerset Park. This is an exciting new chapter for the Club and we’re excited to see the project take shape.”
The new club will give residents of Ayr and the surrounding area a further opportunity to experience padel as the sport continues to attract growing interest across the UK. With work now underway at Somerset Park by Fife-headquartered sports surface specialist DOE Sport, anticipation is building ahead of the venue’s planned opening in early spring 2027.
For more information and latest news from Soul Padel, visit soulpadel.co.uk.