It’s been the fulfilment of a ten-year dream.

Wessex Taekwondo Association’s new home in Poole not only offers the best taekwondo facilities outside of Manchester, says owner John Harrison.

But it also has ambitions to be a leading wellbeing centre.

Already Scott Langston, of Back2Fitness, the sports and injury and general clinic, has taken one of the two treatment rooms.

There are plans to provide a whole range of services, including personal fitness, sports psychology and nutrition advice.

John, 54, secured a ten-year lease on the Franks Way building – formerly used as a food distribution warehouse – in February.

He’s ploughed £80,000 of his own money into transforming the site into an elite performance sports centre.

It includes a main Taekwondo training area, measuring 22 x 10 metres, as well as a gym, changing room, two consultation rooms, kitchen, café and, eventually, a sauna.

Much of the work was done by John over the course of just eight weeks with the new centre officially opening in April.

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The response of users and visitors, says John, is ‘wow’.

He said: “Taekwondo is the core part of what we’re doing here.

“But as a sports centre we’re trying to cover the elite side as well.

“For example, we’ve got an Under 14s football team coming in this weekend and I’ll be working with them to do their strength conditioning, speed work, sports nutrition and the like.

“We’re speaking to a women’s rugby team and also, potentially, a volleyball team.

“There’s a natural synergy in what we’re doing.

“We’ve got a personal trainer coming on board with us and we’re trying to get to a point where he’s working with some of my clients and also those of Scott.

“That will be our aim for each person who joins us.

“We’ve also got a sports psychologist that Scott has introduced so we’ll aim to have all the bases covered.”

John has been studying Taekwondo for nearly 35 years.

His club, Wessex Taekwondo Association, has a student base of 127 with currently three members competing internationally and another four joining the circuit later this year.

John has been working with the armed forces for 27 years, initially as the Royal Marines coach, and then the Royal Navy Coach. In 2015, he became the coach for the entire UK Armed Forces.

In April he was given lifetime honorary membership of the Army Martial Arts Association in recognition of his work with the military.

Scott, 40, a sports therapist, launched Back2Fitness in 2007 and has known John for more than a decade.

He said: “It’s amazing what John’s done, not least because while he worked tirelessly on the new centre he was also doing competitions – and driving the mini-bus – at weekends in places like Doncaster, Huddersfield and even Luxembourg and Spain.”

Both John and Scott are directors of Wessex Elite Taekwondo Association CIC which successfully applied for a £10,000 grant from The National Lottery for gym equipment.

Other companies helping include Brewers Decorator Centres, which donated paint, and Poole-based Field International.

John said: “The response has been fantastic and we’re really pleased with the way things are going.

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s a dream come true.”