Published by Sprung Gym Flooring · September 2026 · Stats Hub
Britain's Martial Arts Mat Map 2026
Published by Sprung Gym Flooring · 7 September 2026 · gym-flooring.com Data drawn from 307 UK orders of judo, taekwondo, karate, tatami and MMA mats between September 2025 and August 2026, ONS mid-2025 population estimates and UK search data. Free to cite with attribution — see "Using this data" at the end.
Key findings
The North East orders more martial arts mats per head than any other part of Britain — 5.4 orders per million residents in the last 12 months, against a Great Britain average of 4.4. The South East (5.2) and the East of England (5.0) follow. The North West sits last at 2.6.
Scotland builds the biggest dojos. Scottish orders average 33 square metres of matting each — the largest in Britain and almost double the English average of 19 — because so many of them are club fit-outs. Per head, Scotland lays 150 m² of martial arts matting per million residents, a third more than the next region.
December beats January. The busiest month for mat orders was December 2025 (47 orders), with November close behind (46). January 2026 (33) was 30% quieter than December — the New Year resolution does not reach the dojo. Half of the year's orders (50%) landed in the four months from September to December.
September is club-restart month. Orders in September ran at 28 against a spring low of 13–16 a month (March to May) — the autumn climb starts the week the halls reopen.
One order in three is club-sized. 31% of orders covered 20 m² or more, and 8% covered 50 m² or more; the median order is 12 m², a home training corner. The eight largest single orders of the year — from 100 m² to 175 m² — went to Nuneaton and Bedworth, Renfrewshire, Norwich, West Lothian, Erewash, Basildon, Bolton and Dundee.
Northern Ireland punches above its weight. Northern Ireland placed 3.6% of Britain's martial arts mat orders — more than three times its 1.0% share of all Sprung Gym Flooring orders recorded in the UK Home Gym Report 2026.
Grappling out-searches striking. UK searches for judo, BJJ and jiu jitsu mats run at around 950 a month combined, against 350 for karate and taekwondo mats; "jigsaw mats" (700) and "tatami mats" (400) remain the words most people reach for.
1. Where Britain lays its mats
Ranked by orders per million residents in the 12 months to August 2026 (ONS mid-2025 population estimates), the regions ordering the most martial arts matting per head are:
| Rank | Region | Orders per million residents | Matting laid per million residents (m²) | Average order (m²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North East | 5.4 | 104 | 19 |
| 2 | South East | 5.2 | 89 | 17 |
| 3 | East of England | 5.0 | 110 | 22 |
| 4 | South West | 4.7 | 86 | 18 |
| 5 | Yorkshire and the Humber | 4.6 | 81 | 18 |
| 6 | Scotland | 4.5 | 150 | 33 |
| 7 | London | 4.3 | 86 | 20 |
| 8 | West Midlands | 4.2 | 83 | 20 |
| 9 | East Midlands | 4.1 | 80 | 19 |
| 10 | Wales | 3.8 | 69 | 18 |
| 11 | North West | 2.6 | 44 | 17 |
The South East leads on sheer volume (50 orders), followed by London (39) and the East of England (33). The two ends of the table are the defensible findings: the North East places twice as many mat orders per head as the North West, and Scotland's average order is the largest anywhere. The middle of the table sits within a point of the national average of 4.4 orders per million and should be read as a group. England placed 85% of orders, Scotland 8%, Wales 4% and Northern Ireland 4%. Northern Ireland is left out of the per-head figures because its 2025 population estimate is published separately.
2. Clubs and kitchens: how big Britain's mat areas are
The median martial arts mat order is 12 square metres — a training corner in a garage, a spare room or a kitchen with the table pushed back. A quarter of orders (25%) were six square metres or fewer. At the other end, 31% of orders covered 20 m² or more and 8% covered 50 m² or more: church halls, leisure centres, school dojos and full-time clubs.
The eight largest single orders of the year were all club-sized: 175 m² in Nuneaton and Bedworth (September 2025), 142 m² in Renfrewshire, 135 m² in Norwich, 135 m² in West Lothian, 107 m² in Erewash, 104 m² in Basildon, 100 m² in Bolton and 100 m² in Dundee. Three of the eight are Scottish, which is why Scotland's average order runs at 33 m² against 17–22 m² everywhere else. Norwich, crowned Britain's home gym capital in the UK Home Gym Report 2026, appears again here with one of the largest dojo orders in the country.
Thickness follows use. Orders containing club-grade 40mm mats — the standard for judo, taekwondo and karate throws and falls — made up 48% of the year; 20mm reversible tatami mats, the home-practice and striking-arts choice, appeared in 53% (five orders took both).
3. When the mats go down
Martial arts matting does not follow the home gym calendar. In the UK Home Gym Report 2026, November was the busiest month for home gyms and January ran 10% above December. For mats it is the autumn term that matters: orders climbed from a spring low of 13 (May) and 15 (April) through 28 in September and 32 in October to 46 in November and 47 in December, the peak of the year. January fell back to 33 and February to 27.
Half of all orders (153 of 307, or 50%) were placed between September and December. September's figure — 28 orders, roughly double the spring months — matches the week most clubs restart after the summer break, when halls are re-laid, new intakes arrive and worn jigsaw mats get replaced.
"September is when the mats go down. Clubs restart, church halls get re-laid, and the orders show it within days. What surprised us is December: the dojo doesn't wait for New Year the way the home gym does." — Richard McKay, founder, Sprung Gym Flooring
4. What Britain searches for
UK search demand for martial arts matting runs at roughly 3,000 searches a month across the ten most common terms. The plain descriptions still lead — "jigsaw mats" (700 searches a month) and "tatami mats" (400) — followed by "MMA mats" (400), "judo mats" (350) and "BJJ mats" (350). "Jiu jitsu mats" adds 250, "martial arts mats" and "karate mats" 200 each, "taekwondo mats" 150 and "dojo mats" 70.
Put the disciplines side by side and the grappling arts win the search box: judo, BJJ and jiu jitsu together draw around 950 searches a month, against 350 for karate and taekwondo — the mirror image of the mats themselves, where the 40mm mats built for throws and the 20mm mats built for striking sell in similar numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Which part of the UK orders the most martial arts mats? Per head, the North East of England, at 5.4 orders per million residents in the year to August 2026. By volume, the South East, London and the East of England.
How big is a typical martial arts mat order? The median order is 12 square metres. About a third of orders are club-sized at 20 m² or more; the largest single order of the year was 175 m².
When is the busiest time of year for mat orders? December, closely followed by November; half of the year's orders are placed between September and December. Spring (March to May) is the quietest period.
Methodology
Order figures are drawn from Sprung Gym Flooring's UK transaction records for 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026, covering every order that contained 20mm or 40mm reversible EVA tatami, judo, taekwondo, karate, dojo or MMA mats. Cancelled orders and orders without a UK delivery postcode were removed, leaving 307 orders and 6,187 square metres of matting (each mat is one metre square, so tiles and square metres are equal). Delivery postcodes were matched to local authorities and regions using the ONS Postcode Directory via postcodes.io. Per-head figures use the Office for National Statistics mid-2025 population estimates for the English regions, Scotland and Wales (via Nomis); Northern Ireland's estimate is published separately and is excluded from per-head rankings. The eight largest orders are named at local-authority level only; no customer is identified. Search volumes are Ahrefs UK monthly data, pulled 5 September 2026. Participation data for the martial arts (Sport England Active Lives, governing-body club counts) is not included in this edition and will be added when a verified pull is available. Figures are rounded.
Using this data
This report is free to quote and republish with attribution. Cite as: Sprung Gym Flooring, Britain's Martial Arts Mat Map 2026 — with a link to this page. For regional breakdowns, the underlying figures or comment from founder Richard McKay, contact info@gym-flooring.com. Related: The UK Home Gym Report 2026 · EVA foam tatami matting · Sprung Gym Flooring facts.
About Sprung Gym Flooring: founded in Glasgow in 2020, Sprung Gym Flooring (gym-flooring.com) is one of the UK's leading gym flooring suppliers, with more than 55,000 home gyms and 1,500 commercial facilities floored. Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
