Merseyside padel company Ignite Padel has made history by becoming the first business to bring the sport to a major UK festival, teaming up with Pepsi MAX presents Creamfields to feature two dedicated courts at this year’s event.
The Daresbury festival, which celebrates 20 years at its Cheshire home this summer, will host the courts as part of an expanded Downtown Village area, giving festivalgoers the chance to pick up a racquet between sets from a headline bill that includes Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, Chase & Status, and Becky Hill.
Ignite Padel, which operates centres in Speke, West Derby, and Cheshire Oaks, will have its full team on site for the entire duration of the Bank Holiday weekend, which runs from Thursday, August 27 to Sunday, August 30. Staff will be on hand to teach the rules of the game, explain its dynamics, and host mini-tournaments for those who want to get competitive.
Festivalgoers can register to play via the festival website, and all equipment will be provided, meaning no prior kit or experience is needed. The Padel page is already live on the Creamfields website.
The Downtown Village at Creamfields 2026 has been significantly expanded this year, with a wellness corner offering yoga, meditation, and sound baths; daily fitness challenges; a sensory corner for those wanting a calmer atmosphere; a ball park with crazy golf; the return of the Creamfields Football Tournament; a gymnasium; a retro arcade; a spa; and more. The padel courts sit alongside all of this as part of a clear shift in how major festivals are catering to their audience.
Chris Watson, one of the founders of Ignite Padel, says the partnership reflects a major cultural change in what people want from a festival experience. “When I went to Creamfields about 13 years ago there was nothing like this there, it was all about the music,” he said. “But everything is changing.”
Watson is bullish about how the sport will land with the Creamfields crowd. “Padel is going to go down really well there. It will be brilliant, and it will provide a powerful opportunity to introduce the sport to a whole new audience with hundreds of people discovering padel for the first time.”
The Ignite Padel founder also highlighted how the sport’s accessibility makes it a natural fit for a festival setting. “Padel is so inclusive. You don’t need a racquet background; you just need to get on court and play, and you can pick it up really quickly. That’s why it’s grown so fast and become so popular.”
Looking ahead to what the partnership represents for the business, Watson added: “We feel privileged and proud to be partnering with Pepsi MAX presents Creamfields and being part of a UK festival first. As one of the premier padel companies, we aim to work with world-leading brands, so we’re honoured to showcase what we’re about on a platform as iconic as Creamfields. It’s going to be very busy, but we can’t wait to inspire more fans of this amazing sport.”
For more information on Ignite Padel, visit ignitepadeluk.co.uk.
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In this article: Creamfields, Pepsi Max, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, Chase & Status, Becky Hill, Daresbury, Merseyside, Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, Speke, West Derby, Steven Gerrard, Paddy Pimblett, padel. Generated by Wikidata Schema Link Builder.
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