Squash courts in North London

Finchley, Temple Fortune, Whetstone, Crouch End, Southgate. Court counts, who can play, and what membership costs.

Six venues within reach of Finchley Central. Five of them are members-only, which is the single most important thing to know before you start ringing round.

The members-only problem

If you have just moved to N3 and want to play squash, the honest answer is that you will probably need to join something. Finchley Manor, Temple Fortune, Coolhurst, Oakleigh Park and Brondesbury all run on membership. The clubs are member-owned rather than commercial operators, which is why none of them sell casual court time the way a leisure centre does.

Three practical routes around it:

• Play as a guest. Most member-owned clubs let members bring a guest, sometimes free, sometimes for a small court fee. If you know anyone at Finchley Manor or Temple Fortune, this is the cheapest way to try the courts before committing to a year.
• Join the cheaper club. Temple Fortune publishes squash membership at £235 a year for a full adult, with reduced student and junior rates. For two games a week that is under £2.50 a session — cheaper than pay-and-play anywhere in London. Run your own frequency through the membership calculator.
• Travel to Southgate. On current data it is the nearest pay-and-play squash of any size to Barnet. Worth a phone call to confirm before making the trip.

What the courts are actually like

Finchley Manor has the best facility in the area: four courts, one of them a glass-backed show court with seating for 55–60, which is rare outside central London. The club runs internal squash and racketball leagues and fields three teams in the Middlesex Squash League. Saunas in both changing rooms and free parking for members and guests. It is a tennis club first — squash arrived in the 1960s — but the squash section is properly run.

Temple Fortune is smaller and more informal: two heated, ventilated courts with a viewing gallery, refurbished in 2012, plus a coach on site. Racketball players are welcome and the leagues run year-round. For a beginner in NW11 this is the lowest-friction entry point in the area.

Coolhurst in Crouch End is the largest court count on this list at seven, though that figure comes from a single source and should be confirmed with the club.

Checking a venue yourself

Court counts and coaching change faster than any directory keeps up with. The England Squash facility finder is the authoritative register for squash venues in England and lists courts, opening hours and DBS-checked coaches per club — it is the first place to check before you trust a figure on this page or anywhere else.

Racketball and squash 57

Both Finchley Manor and Temple Fortune take racketball players on the same courts. If you are coming back to court sport after a gap, or your shoulder no longer enjoys a squash racket’s swing path, racketball on a squash court is the usual bridge — bigger ball, shorter racket, longer rallies, same footwork.

Getting there

If none of this works

The realistic alternative in this postcode is padel. It is pay-and-play almost everywhere locally, you can book a court for tonight from your phone, and there are now more padel courts within two miles of Finchley Central than squash courts. See padel courts in North London, or how the two sports compare if you are deciding between them.

Common questions