A SUCCESSFUL boxing club is ready to pack a punch at its new home in Musselburgh, which is also set to become a ‘one-stop shop’ for all martial arts.

Members of the Bronx Boxing Gym, formerly of Tranent, will share space at 105 Musselburgh High Street with mixed martial arts school Forza MMA, run by Italian-born Vincenzo Parente, who was brought up in Leith but is originally from Naples.

Mr Parente said there was a lot of “hype and excitement” locally about the new facility, which will be called the Fit-in Fitness Gym, featuring different training sections, a coffee shop and chill-out zone.

He has a 10-year lease on former Co-op premises on High Street, which has been closed for 12 years, and offered space to the Bronx Boxing Gym, which was on the lookout for a new, permanent home.

Internal work is being carried out to enable the boxers and martial arts members to work in tandem in separate parts of the available space.

John McCallum, from Haddington, one of the Bronx Boxing Gym’s four volunteer coaches, said the gym was lucky to have secured the new premises after having to vacate its base at the former Tranent Methodist Church which became unsafe and needed substantial repairs.

The boxing club is already in place at its new home, with the mixed martial arts gym due to follow suit at the start of next year.

Mr McCallum, who has his own roofing company, said: “It has worked out perfectly for us.

“The Bronx Boxing Gym in Tranent was about 200 square metres – this is about 500 square metres. We were always looking for that space because we needed to put a ring in.”

The boxing club, which has a number of Scottish champions amongst its members, both male and female, trains on a Monday and Wednesday, 5-7.30pm, and a Friday, 4-6.30pm.

Trips to New York to compete and train have been undertaken by the club, which has members from East Lothian, Midlothian and as far afield as Berwick.

Anyone interested in finding out more or joining the boxing club should go along to any of the training sessions or contact the coaches via Facebook.

“No one is turned away,” said Mr McCallum.

The other coaches – Tommy Quinn, who lives in Port Seton; Richard Snaith, from Dunbar; and Marc Skinner, a Tranent resident – are on hand to put boxers through their paces each week.

“We are also very lucky we have good members of the committee and good parents who support the club,” said Mr McCallum, whose son John is also a boxer.