The Colchester Karate Academy is the Most Loved small business in Colchester, and the most loved Martial Arts Academy in the UK according to a massive nationwide search run by TheBestOf to find the best local shops and companies in towns and cities across the UK.
The results of the 2 week campaign reveal that The Colchester Karate Academy based in The Cowdray Centre, is the most loved after 195 people recommended it.
The Colchester Karate Academy is an award winning academy in the heart of Colchester and the only karate club in Essex with Club SX Gold Accreditation and OFSTED approval. The Colchester Karate Academy is owned by Landé Fourie who has been championing Martial Arts for 26+ years. Landé is a 3rd Dan Black Belt in Shotokan Karate (UKTKF) and a 4th Dan Black Belt in Freestyle Karate (BNMAA). She is also the current 'FSKA Kata World Champion'. Landé was crowned 'Essex Sport Personality of the Year 2009'.
Landé says “It’s such a great honour and certainly a good start to the year. Our club has been tremendously successful in 2009 and it seems that we are building on that and the people to thank for that are my students! The students and parents are what make the club. If it wasn’t for their support, dedication, loyalty, and dedication we would not be where we are today. I just want to say a big thank you to each and everybody who recommended us!”
The 195 recommendations bestowed on the The Colchester Karate Academy included praise such as: -
• “your infectious enthusiasm and deep knowledge of the sport which you convey to your students by way of the necessary discipline and exuberant fun”
• “Landé is fantastic with him; completely understanding of his needs”
• “CKA is a brilliant organisation and as an "old git" I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in learning a classic art. They tell me that age is relative. Karate has taught me that age is "irrelevant". My respect goes to Sensei Landé Fourie for her support, expert tuition and for being such a lovely individual.”
Landé is running a superb business, and should be rightly proud – but to be honest what’s been underscored again and again in this campaign is just how many fantastic local businesses there are in Colchester today. These business owners and their staff are the life-blood of our economy and it’s tremendous that they’ve been shown so much love. We’ve been absolutely blown away by the response from the people of Colchester who wrote 1,000s of glowing testimonials in support of local businesses.
The ‘14 Days of Love’ campaign from TheBestOf generated over 138,000 testimonials from the length and breadth of the country. More than 30,000 businesses drawn from almost 400 towns and spanning every business type - from hairdressers, tattoo artists, fitness instructors and bridal stores through to bouncy castles accountants, architects, solicitors - even dentists and funeral directors – all received nominations from adoring customers.
Small business owners have kept our economy going over the last 18 months. They employ millions of people, provide services that we all use and can have a massive impact on our quality of life – whether it’s delivering to customers out of hours, calling on older customers to check they’re ok or simply looking after their customers brilliantly. In fact in our research one in five people say there is a small local firm they just can’t live without. We wanted to give people the chance to throw the spotlight on these superb small businesses – and they have!.
The Top 5 most loved small businesses in Colchester are:
• The Colchester Karate Academy
• Eureka Sales Solutions
• Springlands Nursery
• Gymophobics
• Snoopies
A full list of the top 20 most loved businesses in Colchester and its most active recommenders or ‘Lovers’ can be seen at http://www.thebestof.co.uk/loveometer/ByTown.aspx. The Top 100 most loved local businesses across the UK are also listed as well as top 5 businesses by category.