'I went from bouncer with fists ready to town mayor'

Twenty-three years ago, Adrian Stohr said he always had his fists at the ready as a bouncer.

Working across Suffolk and other parts of East Anglia, he said the career had been overshadowed by a lot of violence and even death threats.

Things worsened when he landed in "a lot of trouble with the courts", and after 10 years in that industry, he stepped away as his mental and physical health deteriorated.

Wanting to get his life back on track, he started to write about his life as a form of therapy while also working his way into the world of local politics up to his current role as mayor of Sudbury.

The 50-year-old transformed his writings into an autobiography that he hoped would show that people can take a different path.

"I was extremely disciplined, but I also had this inner problem where I had this demon inside me," Stohr said of his bouncer career.

"I always felt I wanted more, saying to myself, 'Finish him, finish him'.

"I wasn't like that, but I was put up against a lot of violence."

He added: "All my life, it was like my two fists were the two good things I had.

"When it came to fighting, my fists came out."

Stohr fought severe depression and weight gain over the years after he left the profession.

When his father died in 2011 and his weight hit 24st (152kg), he knew he had to turn his life around.

He started to run to improve his fitness, and he trained as a trade union representative, as he wanted to help people professionally, later becoming a political officer for the local union branch.

Finding his passion in politics, he joined the South Suffolk Labour Party before getting elected on to Sudbury Town Council.

Earlier this year, Stohr's party wanted him to run for mayor, and he was unanimously voted in.

"I love the job... I came from a different background to where I am now; now I'm serving my community, my town," he continued.

"If you go back a few years, you'd probably laugh if someone said that I was mayor; some people probably still do now, but it's the honour of my life."

After getting his "happy ending", Stohr published his autobiography titled Running from the Past Fighting for the Future: My Life My Way.

On Sunday he will give a small talk and present the book at the Anglian Authors Books Fair at Sudbury Arts Centre.

"The book became a healing process over the years," he explained.

"Every time I was writing something, it felt good, and it helped me think about something else, but it also let a little bit of what was in my mind release.

"I've finally achieved something in life that I can be proud of, and it's raw, it's real, and it happened to me."

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