How we rate, and why you can trust it
Manc Padel is independent. No venue, coach or brand can pay us for a better rating or a kinder review. Here is exactly how we score a place, how we check what we publish, and how we make money, in plain English.
Every rating on this site is our own editorial view, formed the same way a regular player would form it: by looking at the things that actually matter when you turn up to play. We would rather tell you a court is average and be right than call everything brilliant and be useless.
What goes into a rating
Courts and surface
How many courts, indoor or outdoor, the glass and the turf, and how it plays. A club with well-kept sand-dressed courts scores higher than one with worn, bald turf.
Booking and access
How easy it is to actually get on court. Online booking, how far ahead you need to plan, peak versus off-peak availability, and whether newcomers can get a game without knowing anyone.
Value
What you pay for what you get. Not just the cheapest, the fairest, weighing court hire, racket and ball hire, and whether off-peak slots make it affordable to play regularly.
Atmosphere and coaching
Whether it feels welcoming to a beginner, if there are socials and Americanos to drop into, and whether there is coaching on site for players who want to improve.
Facilities
Changing rooms, parking, a cafe or somewhere to sit, kit for hire and how well the place is run day to day. The small things that make a session easy rather than a faff.
Location
Where it sits in Greater Manchester and how easy it is to reach, by car, tram or bus. A brilliant club is less use if you can never get to it.
How we check what we publish
We use venue websites, booking systems, public listings and, where we can, first-hand visits and reports from local players to build each listing. Prices move and clubs change, so we treat every figure as a guide and point you to the venue for the current rate. When something is out of date, we fix it, that is the whole point of a living directory rather than a one-off article.
Affiliate links, plainly
Some links on this site, mainly to rackets, shoes, balls and accessories, are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend or where a product ranks in a guide. We pick gear on merit, then add the link, not the other way round. If we would not tell a mate to buy it, it is not going in a guide.
When we get it wrong
We will get things wrong sometimes, a price that has changed, a court that has closed, a detail we misjudged. When we do, we want to know. Email us and we will correct it quickly and, where it matters, note what changed. Venues and coaches are always welcome to send updates to their own listing.
Independent, and staying that way
Venues and coaches can pay for a featured spot or a fuller profile, and we mark those clearly as promoted, but no amount of money buys a higher rating or a better review. Editorial and advertising are kept separate on purpose. Our job is to be useful to players first, because if we lose your trust we have nothing.
Spotted something off?
Tell us and we will fix it. Own a venue or coach and want your details updated? Same address.