BRAWLS outside a town centre club will be a thing of the past after it is reopened next month, according to one of its managers.

The Crystal Lounge in Loughton High Road, which was linked to a 150-person fight in November last year, will be reopened under the name Luxe and one of its managers said he wanted to attract an older, more sophisticated crowd.

Co-manager Steve Nash said: “Everything about Crystal Lounge is gone,” he said. “We will have new staff and we're hoping for a fresh start.

“Entry is over-18s at the moment and we're going to try over-21s and over-25s.”

He said the door staff would be told not to let anyone in who looked like they could cause trouble later in the night.

“If someone walks up to the door and they're not suitable or they're being loud, they're going to be refused entry,” he added. “We're going to have to build the right clientele.”

A mass brawl in the High Road in November, which left two men in hospital and led to six arrests, was triggered by a fight in the club, according to the police.

An Essex Police report also revealed a string of violence there, including a 20-person knife fight in December, where two women aged 18 and 19 were arrested.

“We're hoping for a fresh start,” said Mr Nash. “We've spoken to people in the neighbourhood and they've said they want live music, so there will be a bit of a mixture of music there.”

He added that the design of the restaurant above the bar would be changed to make it more open-plan and it would be hired out to private parties, which it was not suited to in the past.

This will be the bar's fourth incarnation over the past five years.

It has changed from the Royal Standard pub to the Minx bar and then to the Crystal Lounge.

Forest Road resident Judith Woodman, who has lived in the town for 25 years, said she was not convinced by the bar's re-branding.

“Why should we believe it's going to be any different?” she said. “It had trouble when it was re-named from Minx and it didn't make any difference.

“I walk past it regularly when I go into town. We don't need somewhere like this in Loughton.”

Luxe is due to open its doors in the second week of April.