A former Sergeant who chose to return to his hometown of Bridport and start his own business after 14 years in the army is enjoying a double celebration - his first year in business and being named 'best new business' in the Bridport Business Awards.

Former Sergeant Rich Harvey received the Clive Hayward Award for 'Best New Business' from Martin Ridley of St Michael's Trading Estate for his gym, The Hurt Locker. Mr Hayward was the estate manager and part owner of St Michael's for 30 years until he died in 2019.

Mr Ridley said: "Clive was almost entirely responsible for developing the estate's reputation for supporting new start-up businesses, many of whom went onto outgrow the estate.

"What Rich has achieved demonstrates exactly the kind of confidence and commitment that's requires to successfully start up a new business."

Mr Harvey served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) at Tidworth Garrison in Germany, including deployments to Afghanistan and with the REME Training Battalion at RAF Lyneham.

He said: "Almost immediately after leaving the army, lockdown happened. I'd always been impressed with the way the army seeks to maintain fitness and wanted to work in that area, perhaps as a professional trainer. I was also able to use part of lockdown to achieve level 3 personal trainer qualification."

The idea of opening a gym grew out of the idea of having a dedicated training area and The Hurt Locker on the Dreadnought Trading Estate is the result.

Mr Harvey set out to apply his army experience and develop a military style approach with functional and targeted training to meet different individual needs.