A cafe owner who turned his life around after facing a long stretch in prison is now proving an inspirational force for vulnerable people in Cornwall.

Leon Holland set up As One, a Caribbean-flavoured community café and meeting space, in Perranporth to help adults and young people at risk from food poverty, mental health issues and social isolation.

He knows how important it is to get support following a period in his youth when he ran with criminals in Leicester and faced a hefty prison sentence.

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The community interest café at Cligga Head is open to everyone and offers a range of traditional Caribbean dishes, cooked by chef Ben Arthur, who graduated from the very first cohort of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen London apprentices with distinction and is also the man behind the popular Rockjam Spices range.

As One regularly hosts music events and has become a home from home for people needing support in mid Cornwall.

Leon, 46 and a father of four, said: "I had life experiences in my teenage life that kind of gave me a real good understanding of both sides of the line.

"I needed to make a place where everyone is welcome, that's why I call it As One."

Leon attended boarding school in Sussex, where his father ran a boxing club. However, after his parents split up he moved to Leicester, his home city, and was "totally overwhelmed".

"I went back into an inner city culture from a country life, and as a mixed race young male, the challenges I faced in the city I wasn't prepared for.

"At a susceptible time in my life most of my family and friends were criminally inclined, so having left school with seven GCSEs and two A levels and a place to sit university law in London, I found myself running around with the wrong people."

Leon, who has lived in Cornwall for 21 years, added: "I got in loads of trouble - more trouble than I could possibly handle. I was forced to leave there as it was that or be in prison for a long time."

He moved to Cornwall and started working as a volunteer at St Petrocs homeless charity and after three months was offered a job as a young person's worker "but things in Leicester weren't finished, I had to go back and face criminal charges".

"I was going to prison - 100%. I spent seven and a half years absconding from justice," he added.

Leon Holland practices Wing Chunk Kung Fu at As One
Leon Holland practices Wing Chunk Kung Fu at As One

Leon was able to show the court 12 letters of support from Devon and Cornwall Police, the Youth Justice System, the NHS, St Petroc's, the Church and other members of society. "Because of that I was allowed to return to Cornwall."

He stressed: "It hasn't been easy - there are times I've thought about quitting As One as I've faced a lot of discrimination because of my past. I'd get jobs and then get fired immediately. But it gave me all the reasons why I felt I had to start As One."

Leon said he'd never talked publicly about his past before as he didn't want his children to be affected.

They would be proud that you turned your life around though, surely?

"Yes, but people can be cruel. But there might be a person out there that would benefit from hearing my story and it would be remiss of me to hold it back for my own sake.

"I started As One as I knew there were plenty of people out there facing the same kind of lack of compassion and negative attitude, when they should be being helped to empower themselves."

As well as serving delicious dishes such as curried goat, ackee and salt fish and jerk chicken, As One operates an education, training and mentoring programme using cookery as a basis.

"I had a partnership with Jamie Oliver and Tesco for the education programme and Ben, who is cooking, was a student of Jamie's and has cooked all over the world, in Michelin star restaurants and all kinds of different settings.

"His ethos of putting things back in the community was built on working on the Fifteen project in Cornwall, as did I so we had that in common."

As a single dad, Leon ensures the menu's prices allow for single parents to dine with their children without breaking the bank.

"I base everything we do here on a single parent - because I grew up with a single parent, my sister is a single parent with four boys. She has to bring them up on one wage in Cornwall. If she wants to go anywhere with them, it's really difficult.

"For a £9 meal you could eat twice it's that big, but for £5 for a small meal you can feed an ordinary adult and it's more than adequate for a child. The fried chicken, for example, you get half a chicken for £9 or a quarter for £5.

"A family of four can dine for £20. You can be here for a couple of hours, listen to the music, it's a beautiful place, there are loads of people here. That works for me."

Leon added: "In reality, we could do it in a different way and make a lot of money as there aren't many Caribbean restaurants in Cornwall.

"If you wanted to eat this somewhere else in Cornwall you could pay double the money and get less food."

Leon's code of conduct at the Caribbean café and meeting space
Leon's code of conduct at the Caribbean café and meeting space

The zero waste café uses all recyclable materials and is also a base for Leon's Kung Fu classes, which feed into the As One ethos.

"My education, mentoring and training programmes revolve around inspiring character and creativity. It's loosely based around the Daoist / Buddhist principles I learned in Kung Fu."

Leon has been practising Wing Chun Kung Fu for 15 years and has travelled to China and Hong Kong for training with a master in the art.

He's on his black belt and teaches it at As One and is on the way to become a sifu or master.

"I'm not teaching people fighting - what I'm teaching them is to remove their ego from the situation, to take care of their fears and expose their weaknesses on a weekly basis. Kung Fu teaches you to be civil and humble.

"I run a closed class for adults as it's important you know who you are passing the information to as, at the end of the day, it's a deadly art."

Leon added: "Most of our problems could be alleviated by exercising a little bit more tolerance and patience."

That's certainly what As One's about - give it a visit.

For my details take a look at the website.

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