Sandwich Amateur Boxing Club has said its faced 'no choice' but to walk away from the leisure centre it contributed more than £50,000 towards setting up.

Club founder Frank Cornwall sold the boxing club premises he owned in order to invest the large sum into the building of Sandwich Sport and Leisure Centre which opened in 1991.

This was on the understanding that Sandwich ABC would always have security of tenure at the centre, all the time the club and the centre existed.

But as the years have gone on, he claims that the space afforded to the club has become "smaller and smaller to the point it has affected the growth and development of Sandwich ABC."

The final straw was a rise in fees demanded by new lease owners Sandwich Technology School, together with Freedom Leisure who run the site. The group would usually donate whatever subs were collected during an evening - usually around £30-40 - but were now being asked for a set fee of £75 an evening, twice a week.

Mr Cornwall felt this was an "inflated cost to train in a sub-standard environment that does not lend itself to effective boxing training."

He told the Mercury: "We have therefore had no choice but to walk away from our investment.

"In donating the funding, I believed that the centre would be of significant benefit to the community as many other clubs would benefit from its use.

"Due to the recent change in ownership of the building and the renewed lease of Freedom Leisure, it is no longer financially sustainable for us to continue to train there.

"We have always prided ourselves on ensuring that membership and subs are low cost and available to all.

"Increasing our prices for our members, is not in keeping with the inclusive nature of our clubs ethos and values."

The non-profit club has found a new home in Eastry Young People’s Club and will re-commence training from next Thursday, September 3.

Mr Cornwall added: "As a club, we are hugely grateful to the committee of the Eastry Young People’s Club who have offered us an outstanding facility and are willing to work with us to help our club prosper and grow."

Head teacher Tracey Savage said: "Freedom Leisure run the Sandwich Sport and Leisure Centre on behalf of Sandwich Technology School.

"As such the school does not interfere with the prices set for use of the facilities other than to make clear that the expectation is that competitive and commercial rates are charged that ensure the on going provision of a good value service for the community.

"It is important to remember that across the country leisure centres have been hit hard financially by the Covid-19 pandemic, with many not re-opening at all.

"To preserve this valuable asset for Sandwich it is important that Freedom Leisure continue to charge a fair price and that we all do everything we can to support it.”

Karen Burrell, sales and marketing director for Freedom Leisure, said: “Despite the ongoing financial challenges faced by the leisure industry in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Freedom Leisure were delighted to be able to reopen Sandwich Sport and Leisure Centre and once again offer access to sports and activity facilities to the whole community.

"We are of course disappointed that Sandwich ABC will not be returning to the centre, and we worked hard to try and agree an option that suited their needs but unfortunately an agreement couldn’t be reached.

"We wish the club the very best of luck for the future."

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