Conroy brothers turn former Ulster Tatler HQ into FEAT4 padel club in Belfast

Belfast is getting another big indoor padel venue. Brothers Charlie and Edward Conroy, from Dungannon in County Tyrone, will open FEAT4 in mid-October in the former Ulster Tatler headquarters on Boucher Road, south Belfast. The multi-million-pound project will create 15 jobs.

The selling point is headroom. The indoor courts sit under 12-metre ceilings, so lobs and high smashes have room to breathe, and the founders say nothing on this scale has been built in Northern Ireland before. Dedicated heating and cooling should keep conditions steady all year. Love Ballymena reports five courts, with bookings through the Padel Mates app.

A club built around more than courts

Padel is only part of the offer. FEAT4 will also run Pilates, physiotherapy, ice baths, saunas and recovery services, plus a hospitality area. The brothers want it to work as a "third place" between home and work, somewhere to train, recover and socialise. Padel Mates, Agnew Belfast Volvo and KPMG have already signed up as corporate partners.

Edward Conroy puts the sport's local growth down to its appeal to people of "all ages and abilities". The Belfast market is getting crowded: House of Padel has already put £1.5m into a club in the east of the city and, according to The Irish News, Let's Go Padel is working on a site at the former Europa bus station. Across the UK, the Lawn Tennis Association says padel drew close to a million players last year.

When clubs compete this closely, the on-court experience is what sets them apart, as we explain in our guide to making a padel club more profitable.

Sources: The Irish News, Armagh I and Love Ballymena.

Photo: N Sopyan via Pexels, Pexels License.