??/??/?? - Decision time nears for club
Under cloud after Leah's tragic visit
Special report by Daniel Rickards

POLICE say they will decide in the next week whether they will recommend that Raquels should stay open or close for good.

The club, a landmark in Basildon, has been closed for three weeks because it has been under a cloud of bad publicity following the death of Leah Betts who allegedly bought the deadly E tablet on the night she visited the club.

Sergeant Andy Richardson of the police unit in Pitsea said that the management at Raquels will soon be putting their proposals forward for the future of the club. He added that if police are happy that the proposals will result in a well-run club then they may be allowed to reopen.

And Colin Bull, operations director of Raquels. is fully aware that the future of the club lies in the hands of the police and local authorities. "What happens to Raquels depends on the local authorities, on whether they give us permission to redecorate and refurbish the unit," he told the Yellow Advertiser this week.

"I'd like to open it after it's been done and to be able to speak to the local authorities it's up to them. "I am currently speaking to the police and they are obviously giving us the guidelines to go on." Mr Bull said that costs for the refurbishment, depending on what was allowed, could cost up to half a million pounds.

He said: "It's a very big site, spread over two floors, taking up to 800 people. "We had employed 25 people who were made redundant, we would have to employ in excess of that if we are successful."