What should I check before buying a squash club?

A squash club’s courts are costly to build and repair, and its players are loyal to people as much as to a place. Your checks should therefore cover two things: the physical courts, and the community that keeps them booked. Start by asking how each court is used across the week.

Membership and booking records

Ask for the membership roll, the types of membership offered and the court-booking history. Look at which hours are busy and which sit empty, and how many members play regularly rather than just hold a card. Ask how many have left and joined recently, and why. Records you can match against the books are more useful than a verbal summary.

The courts themselves

Squash courts have features that are costly to repair: glass back walls, plaster or panel walls, sprung wooden floors and their lighting. Ask when each was last repaired or replaced and who did the work. Hire someone who knows courts to inspect them. Cracks, dead spots and moisture damage can turn a purchase into an immediate repair project.

Setting, leagues and coaching

Find out whether the courts stand alone or sit inside a larger fitness or athletic club, because then the arrangement with that host matters as much as the lease. Ask who organises ladders and leagues, whether they would stay, and how the head pro is engaged. The pickleball facility checklist covers open-play rentals and noise-sensitive leases, which can also apply.