The Pickleball Shed is the latest addition to the UK pickleball community – but the first centre dedicated entirely to pickleball.
Investor Gill Page is a pickleball player herself, and after spending 20 years living in various places around the world due to her husband’s job, she returned to the UK unable to play her beloved tennis due to her knees being, as she puts it, “so riddled with arthritis that I could no longer play doubles”.
Then she saw a social media post for Pickleball York – and her husband and children also wanted to join in the session at the university’s sports barn.
“We started to play and we got hooked ever since. It was as simple as that. We just absolutely loved it from the start – this funny little ball that didn’t quite bounce like a tennis ball that made a big noise.”
It’s a big jump from there to then being involved in setting up a purpose-built pickleball club – but Gill says the family love a challenge. She wanted to find something to occupy her time, and realised that they were always playing pickleball on badminton courts. When she heard a fellow player talk about their plans to revamp some land and make it into a pickleball space, a light-bulb pinged.
“We wanted to fill our life with something that was for us. You work all your life for a big business. We wanted to do something that’s not just busy, and kept us entertained. It was social, but it was more fun than work.
“So we looked around for units. Luck was on our side. We went to see Mike Lynch in Telford and he gave us stories of people looking for years and years for an industrial unit to convert into a pickleball centre.
“We came out to this site in North York and we saw this one unit and it just seemed big enough and it had been newly renovated. It’s got accessible car park spaces and toilets and the electrical fuse boxes up to standard and the fire doors, everything’s new.
“It started from there.”
Nathan Hill, part of Team England at the 2025 European Championships, is on board as a coach – and Gill describes him as “absolutely fantastic in his support, in his encouragement, in coming and having a look at the venue and just constantly supporting us and encouraging us where days are hard and things go wrong.”
And the Pickleball Shed has even been visited by Pickleball England directors Karen and Chris Mitchell – who tried out the courts.
“We are the only facility at the moment that has these cushioned acrylic courts in a bespoke pickleball venue. [Nathan] has driven that. It’s his connections and his heritage within Pickleball England that has given us a platform that people are becoming aware of us through him.”
The venue is currently on phase one of its development, with five courts and a cafe. Gill says the future plans include a viewing space and a mezzanine floor to host corporate days and training events.
“Lots of businesses think it’s because it’s so inclusive, it’s fun for them to come along in team building exercises and then couple it with a day’s activity and they can see people play and then they can go and do a bit of work and team building.”
And of course they’ll also be expanding into the community, running sessions with schools and young people.
“The pickleball community, in my experience, from the phone calls that we’ve had, all around the country of people, whether they’re in pickleball clubs themselves or whether they are just people who play pickleball, they are so supportive and helpful in sharing information.
“We are used to landing in a country where you’re all alone and you have no friends and you have to go out there and make friends – and pickleball helped us find our family in York. It’s been fantastic.”
Chris & I enjoyed our visit to the Pickleball Shed immediately after the Nationals. The courts look great and play fantastic. PbE wishes the team every success.
Fabulous venue and surface. Easy on the joints. Perfect bounce as well. Anybody thinking of starting a venue should visit the Shed. I would be there every day if I lived in York.