Plans for major new sports development on Crewe retail park

By Ryan Parker 21st Apr 2026

Local News by Ryan Parker 1 hour ago 1

Racket Sports would be located on Crewe's Grand Junction Retail Park, to the rear of Food Warehouse (Photo: CEC Planning).

Plans have been put forward for a new padel courts development on Crewe's Grand Junction Retail Park, located on disused land behind a frozen supermarket.

Two currrently anonymous applicants (on behalf of Triton), have submitted plans to open a padel sports centre on Grand Junction Way, to the rear of Food Warehouse.

The site, which covers an area of around 2,200 sqm, was used as an Abb Bowling Club green prior to the demolition of the clubhouse in 2012, remaining vacant since.

The sports centre would consist of five padel courts, a clubhouse, toilets and 18 dedicated parking spaces for customers, created on the existing car park.

A new entrance would also be constructed to the side of Food Warehouse.

A planning statement says: "The proposed development comprises the installation of five padel courts, each with a standalone canopy, along with a clubhouse with ancillary facilities (including toilets), reconfiguration of the car park and associated landscaping.

"The existing site is unused land to the rear of the retail park, which has little visual or ecological importance.

"The proposal will therefore provide a sports/leisure use, diversifying the offer of the wider site and improving its function and attraction.

"Court one will be positioned at the north-western corner of the site, with the remaining courts arranged along its eastern boundary.

"Each court is a standard size for competitive play, measuring 20 metres in length and 10 metres in width, and will feature blue artificial grass surfacing.

"The proposed clubhouse will be accommodated within a shipping container, measuring approximately 39 sqm. The interior will include a reception desk along with seating and tables for guests.

"Access for users will be provided from the existing parking area, with pedestrian access located adjacent to The Food Warehouse unit, with a designated walkway leading directly to the courts.

"As part of the development proposal, the existing car park located to the north of the Food Warehouse unit will be reconfigured to provide 18 dedicated parking spaces for padel customers.

"To implement the proposed walkway, three existing disabled parking spaces will be removed. The future users will also share be able to use the existing car park along with other users of the retail park."

The last date for submitting comments is Monday 11 May, with a target decision date of Monday 15 June.

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Interesting, and resetting the past because for many yearrs that land had been a sports club. Not "an Abb Bowling Club", those younger than Generation Z will recall that it was latterly the ABB Bowling Club, ABB being the owner of Crewe Works for a few years, before company mergers and name changes became as important as building any actual trains.

And whilst on the subject of company shenanigans, the clients are not "currrently anonymous" - they are low level, ring fenced subsidiary companies of the Triton empire, which is eventually owned by the Union Bank of Switzerland.

What I would like to see is how exactly they will protect the 18 allocated parking spaces in the main car park. And how many ex pupils of the boys grammar school remember how it had paddel tennis in the 60s and 70s when nobody else round here had even heard of it.