Founder Membership Terms & Conditions

Section 1

Membership basics

1.1 Who can be a Founder. Founder Membership is limited to 100 named individuals. A Founder Membership is personal to the named member. It is not a corporate, household or shared membership: if two people in a household each want Founder Membership, that is two of the 100. Once 100 memberships are taken, the door closes and a waiting list opens.

1.2 Price and payment. Founder Membership is £2,500 for the membership year, payable in full and in advance. Membership is confirmed once payment is received and the membership agreement is accepted.

1.3 Membership year. For the founding cohort, the membership year is aligned to the club's opening day: every Founder's year begins on the same date and runs for twelve months, regardless of when they joined the founding 100. This keeps allowances, renewals and rate protection aligned across all Founders.

1.4 Cooling-off and pre-opening protection. Because Founders pay before the club opens, two protections apply: a 14-day cooling-off period from the date of payment, during which a Founder may cancel for a full refund; and a long-stop date of 28 February 2027, by which if the club has not opened, Founders are entitled to a full refund of the annual fee. After the cooling-off period, and once the club has opened, the annual fee is non-refundable except as set out in Section 5.

Section 2

The Founder Play Credit

2.1 The Play Credit. Each Founder receives an annual Play Credit of £3,500, loaded into the Founder's account at the start of each membership year. The credit is applied automatically whenever the Founder books court time, with no separate hour banks, weekly limits or rollover to track.

2.2 How it is applied. Every booking draws the correct amount from the Play Credit automatically, based on the player price, whether the slot is peak or off-peak, the court booked and the session length. When the Play Credit is exhausted, the Founder simply continues to play at standard player rates.

2.3 What the credit covers. The Play Credit applies to the Founder's own court bookings. It is not transferable, saleable or rentable, cannot be pooled between Founders, and has no cash value. Unused credit is not refunded and does not carry across the membership year end; the full credit resets on renewal.

2.4 The Show Court. Founders have first call on the Show Court. The Show Court carries a 20% premium over a standard court, so a Show Court booking simply draws a little more from the Play Credit. There is no separate cap: Founders choose for themselves whether the premium session is worth the extra credit it uses.

2.5 Mixed bookings. Where a Founder books a court shared with other players, each player is charged according to their own membership. The Founder's own place is met from the Play Credit; a Gold or Silver member pays their own player rate; a non-member pays the public rate. A Founder's Play Credit is never used to subsidise the other players in a booking.

2.6 Booking window and invitations. Play Credit bookings use the 16-day Founder booking window. A Founder may immediately invite Gold or Silver members to join a booking without waiting for the invitee's own window. Playtomic supports both private games and open matches.

2.7 What the Play Credit cannot be used for. The Play Credit is for casual court bookings only. Coaching, leagues, tournaments, corporate hire and events are booked and paid separately and do not draw on the credit.

Section 3

Other benefits

3.1 Priority booking, F&B and Pro Shop. Founders book up to 16 days in advance, ahead of every other tier, and receive 15% off F&B and the Pro Shop. The Pro Shop discount excludes rackets and balls.

3.2 Guest passes. Each Founder receives 12 guest passes a year, one a month, letting a non-member play free on a court the Founder has booked. As set out in 2.5, in a shared booking each player normally pays according to their own membership; the guest pass is the one exception, waiving a guest's court fee in full for that visit. One guest pass covers one guest. Guest passes are non-transferable, have no cash value, do not roll over month to month, and expire at year end.

3.3 Build access and first on court. Build walkarounds are run at the club's discretion, by appointment, subject to site safety and the principal contractor's rules. Attendance is under supervision and at the member's own risk; hard hats and compliance with site instructions are mandatory. First-on-court access before public opening is subject to courts being commissioned, certified and safe, and to soft-launch scheduling. No specific date is guaranteed.

3.4 Founder recognition, community and forums. Each member of the Original 100 is, with their consent, recognised by name on the Founders' Wall within the club, as a permanent record of the founding membership. A member may decline to be named without affecting any other benefit. Founders are also invited to the club's Founder traditions, which may include the Founder Cup, Founder Ladder and annual Founder Championship, and to consultative forums giving a voice in how the club develops. These traditions and forums are run at the club's discretion and may change over time. The voice given to Founders is consultative only: it confers no ownership, control, shareholding or vote in Padel Republic Limited.

3.5 Management meetings and junior access. Founders are invited to twice-yearly meetings with the club's management and owners, to give feedback and help shape the club. These meetings are consultative only and confer no ownership, control or vote. In addition, a Founder's children under 16 receive priority on junior academy places and holiday-camp spots ahead of the public waiting list, and a preferential junior rate (off-peak, subject to available places and the club's safeguarding requirements). The full junior programme is being finalised with the head coach; junior rates and details will be confirmed before opening.

Section 4

Rate protection & renewal

4.1 Rate protection. The £2,500 founding rate is protected for the Original 100 for as long as a Founder renews continuously. While protected, the Founder rate will not rise by more than the annual change in the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in any year, and will always remain below the prevailing standard membership rate. If a membership lapses, rate protection is lost: rejoining later is at the prevailing Founder rate.

4.2 Renewal, nomination and the waiting list. Founders are offered renewal at their protected rate ahead of the year end. A Founder who chooses not to renew may nominate one person to take their place, subject to club approval. Failing nomination, the seat passes to the waiting list: Gold members first by seniority, then Silver, then registered prospects. A nominee or waiting-list member who takes a Founder seat joins as a Founder at the prevailing Founder rate. The original member's rate protection is personal and does not transfer. A Founder place may be nominated to a successor but may not be sold, rented or otherwise traded for value, whether by the member or any third party.

Section 5

Conduct, suspension & termination

5.1 Conduct. Founders agree to the club's code of conduct. The club may suspend or terminate membership for serious or repeated breach, including abuse of staff or members, dangerous play, non-payment, or repeated no-shows.

5.2 Refunds on termination. If the club terminates a membership for cause, the annual fee is not refunded. If the club withdraws the Founder tier or terminates without cause, the Founder receives a pro-rata refund of the unused portion of the year.

Section 6

General

6.1 Changes to benefits and rates. Core Founder benefits, the Play Credit, the 16-day window and the rate protection, are protected for the membership year. The club may substitute other benefits for equivalents if circumstances require. Opening hours, peak and off-peak definitions, and the per-hour rates for play beyond the credit may change with reasonable notice; the annual Play Credit amount itself is fixed for the year.

6.2 Liability, data and force majeure. Standard terms apply for liability, data protection (in line with our privacy policy and UK GDPR), and events outside the club's reasonable control. These are set out in the full membership agreement.

6.3 Your consumer rights. You are buying as a consumer, so you have rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that cannot be removed by these terms. Nothing here limits those rights.

6.4 The agreement. These terms form part of the Founder Membership agreement between the member and Padel Republic Limited, trading as Club Padel. Where these terms and the full membership agreement differ, the membership agreement prevails. Questions or cancellations: alan@clubpadel.co.uk. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.