PARTYGOERS have been left in the lurch by the sudden closure of a Southend venue.

The Kursaal Function Suite, popular for Christmas and birthday parties and other celebrations, closed unexpectedly this week with no notice given to customers who had paid deposits to hire it.

One group had made a £450 downpayment for a Christmas party, only to be left just weeks to find an alternative venue.

Chloe Johnson, 23, from Southend, was one of a group of 18 colleagues who each paid a £25 deposit for the party.

She said: “We booked our party for December 13 and paid our deposits, but I got a phone call from another function suite in Chalkwell, offering to let us have our party there, because the Kursaal function room had closed.

“We hadn’t been informed by the Kursaal. We just found out it had closed and the owners had left the country. It’s a good job we didn’t pay the full £50 a head.

“The Chalkwell one still wants another £25 a head from us, and it will have to be on a completely different date, so not everyone will be able to make it.

It’s very disappointing.”

Another unhappy customer, a 44-year-old woman from Southend, who asked not to be named, said she had been left high and dry over her wedding anniversary celebration.

She said: “I booked our party for next June. I had my 40th birthday celebration there and with my daughter’s 18th and 21st.

“I was such a good customer they gave me a discount, but they have cancelled without a word of warning. Thank goodness I only paid a £125 deposit, though I think some people have lost a lot of money. It’s terrible.”

She said she had only found out because a friend who had paid a deposit for a Christmas party tried to pay the balance,.

She added: “When she called, the phone just kept ringing and ringing. She went there and it was all locked up.”

The Echo was also unable to get through to anyone at the function room, but a notice, above, posted on the operators’ website explains the situation.

AFTER seven years of working and building up a local venue for Southend and putting in our heart and sou,l we have been ripped off by a bogus bunch of people with a long history of doing this.

“A firm agreement was made back in July to hand the business over on November 10 and with solicitors involved all information was passed on as requested.

“The date to exchange contracts was tactically avoided for months and with only one week remaining till the current owners were due to leave for a new opportunity overseas there was little option but to remove all our equipment and fixtures.

“We have worked day and night to move all bookings to a new venue for existing customers whichwere taken in good faith and should have continued by the new owners.

“The Kursaal Function Suite has not accepted any deposits, balances or a penny during the month of November.

“Our staff have all lost their jobs and the emotional strain on everyone at the function suite has been huge.”