SOUL Padel has teamed up with Ayr United Football Club to bring one of the world’s fastest-growing sports to the town.
Work has started on a new Soul Padel club at Somerset Park, the home of Ayr United. The move represents a £750,000 investment and marks the company’s second Scottish location.
The venue will feature four covered padel courts and a clubhouse with shower and toilet facilities. It is expected to open in early spring 2027 and provide approximately 10 employment opportunities.
Visitors to Soul Padel in Ayr will be able to benefit from its 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, the business aims to build a growing Scottish network.
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.”
David Smith, chairman at Ayr United Football Club, added, “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.”
Work on the project is being delivered by Fife-headquartered sports surface specialist DOE Sport.
