Boxing club set for new home after funding boost

The new boxing gym is set to be built on derelict land in Crewe (artist's impression)

A boxing club is set to have a new home after receiving additional government funding for the move.

South Cheshire Amateur Boxing Club (ABC) plans to build a new gym on a former youth club site on Mirion Street in Crewe.

The project has been awarded just over £765,000 from the government's youth investment fund.

The club, which offers lessons to children from the age of five, has said it has outgrown its current base on Middlewich Street in the town.

The Mirion Street scheme had already received funding through a portion of the £22.9m earmarked for Crewe under the government's Towns Fund.

"The new facilities at Mirion Street will allow our club to reach many more young people and expand the work we’ve done successfully over the past 12 years,” said head coach Nathan Clarke.

South Cheshire ABC describes itself as a community club which uses the "discipline, structure and growth" from boxing to develop "real opportunity" for young people in Crewe.

By having a new gym, the club hopes to support an additional 100 young people a year.

Crewe's Conservative MP, Dr Kieran Mullan, described the move as "fantastic news".

It would help develop a derelict site where there was a fire in 2014, and also aid the boxing club's "amazing team" in their work supporting young people, he added.