SEAN McComb will get his first shot at a professional title when he faces Gavin Gwynne for the vacant Commonwealth strap on January 22 in Wakefield. 

WITH over 3,000 stores across the UK, the Premier brand has established its local community shops as some of the best in the business of retail. Premier stores pride themselves as being at the heart of the community, famous for service, range and value. All Premier stores are locally owned by independent retailers and the store on the Pembroke Loop Road in Poleglass is no different. The store is owned by Frank Denny who has traded in the area for 20 years with the new store born after a fire destroyed the entire building complex in 2013. Frank explained: “We were actually one of the first Premier stores in the North. The brand is now well-established across the UK with a number of stores across Belfast. “We had a fire back in 2013 in the other shop which was a couple of yards up the street. The whole building was destroyed. The whole area was a bit run down. “The fire meant this side of Poleglass found itself with no shop and no chippy. “I bought the whole building and commercial units in it and within six weeks, we were able to get the shop opened again. “There is great community spirit up here and they all got behind me. It moved me to get going again. “The place has really gone from strength to strength. “We eventually got an off-sales which was great. We have a lot of disabled people in the local area and it was the driving force that really spared me to get it over the line.“The shop has very much a local feel to it. 99% of the people coming in every day, I would know them. It is a drop-in centre as much as anything else, when people come in they will get a smile and a bit of a yarn.” As well as an off-sales, Premier boasts a range of services to customers and is on the way to becoming a full one-stop shop for the community. “We have a chippy beside us, Colin Grill Chippy, which takes care of the fast food but we do sausage rolls in the morning and fresh sandwiches and wraps every day,” added Frank.

A South Belfast councillor has reiterated her call for the Department of Health to “step up” and facilitate an effective process that would see relatives designated as ‘Care Partners’ to help their loved ones residing in care homes.

They say that the trick to running a marathon is to understand that it is, in truth, a race of two halves.

JAMES Tennyson has been handed an early Christmas present as the Poleglass puncher takes on Canada's Josh O'Reilly in a WBA lightweight eliminator on the undercard of Billy Joe Saunders versus Martin Murray at the SSE Wembley Arena next Friday night.