{"id":531578,"date":"2026-07-18T01:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531578\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T01:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:59:08","slug":"new-zealands-largest-pickleball-and-padel-centre-to-open-in-christchurchs-old-court-theatre-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531578\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s largest pickleball and padel centre to open in Christchurch\u2019s old Court Theatre building"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EightEight pickleball and three padel courts fill the revamped theatre space. Photo \/ Anna Heath. <\/p>\n

KJ Randall, who is a partner in Picklepadel alongside John Targett, said the idea came after he, an avid player himself, struggled to find somewhere to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a recreational player, I just sort of struggled to find places to play at any time of the day and in any weather,\u201d Randall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sport\u2019s really gone through a massive growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s now professional commercial venues in all of the main centres as well as Christchurch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sport was feeling quite constrained beforehand, and now that there is a venue of this size, it means that the sport can grow as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just lucky enough to find this building and bring it to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KJKJ Randall of Picklepadel said the team have sought to keep some of the theatrical character of the former Court Theatre building. Photo \/ Anna Heath. <\/p>\n

While the building has taken on a new purpose, traces of the Court Theatre remain throughout.<\/p>\n

Beams once used in the theatre have been repurposed as dividers between the courts, while two containers that served theatregoers for 14 years will now provide refreshments to pickleball players and spectators.<\/p>\n

Posters from shows once held within the four walls have been repurposed as wall decorations, and air conditioning units have been made into tables. <\/p>\n

It was a decision Randall said was intentional.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very deliberate when we took the building over to keep that post-earthquake story alive and keep all of the theatrical elements,\u201d Randall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve kept as much of the story as we can, and we\u2019ve built it into the brand of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PicklepadelPicklepadel is a new pickleball facility that has taken over the old Court Theatre. Photo \/ Anna Heath. <\/p>\n

The history is evident throughout the building, including a large dividing wall that marks where the back of the Court Theatre stage once stood.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We\u2019re] just trying to reuse as much as possible, and it\u2019s actually more expensive and more work to redo that rather than just buy off the shelf,\u201d Randall said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was part of what we wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PicklepadelPicklepadel has been refurbished, but the team have also sought to keep some of its theatrical character. Photo \/ Anna Heath. <\/p>\n

While the building\u2019s history has been preserved, it has also been updated with modern technology.<\/p>\n

Buttons beside each court allow players to instantly replay on-court action, helping players and referees make line calls or capture highlight moments.<\/p>\n

\"ButtonsButtons beside each court allow players to instantly replay on-court action. Photo \/ Anna Heath. <\/p>\n

Picklepadel is set to welcome players and spectators through its doors at the beginning of August.<\/p>\n

The Court Theatre moved from The Shed into its new $56 million purpose-built facility in central Christchurch earlier this year.<\/p>\n

It became the theatre\u2019s first permanent home since the 2011 earthquake uprooted it from the city\u2019s Arts Centre.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Court Theatre moved from The Shed into its new $56 million purpose-built facility in central Christchurch. Photo \/ Frank Film<\/p>\n

The building was designed by Athfield Architects and United Kingdom-based architects Haworth Tompkins.<\/p>\n

The 377-seat Stewart Family Theatre has three levels of seating around the stage, while a smaller auditorium has 120 to 150 seats and is used for children\u2019s theatre and improvised comedy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight pickleball and three padel courts fill the revamped theatre space. Photo \/ Anna Heath. KJ Randall, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,6726,674,1550,50545,1349,2740,1345,78,19136,117,111,43,139,69,9716,5493,123830,74184,2249,7069,61,1533,2963],"class_list":["post-531578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-become","tag-building","tag-centre","tag-christchurchs","tag-court","tag-former","tag-home","tag-in","tag-largest","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-old","tag-open","tag-padel","tag-pickleball","tag-soon","tag-theatre","tag-to","tag-will","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}