THE man behind a town centre hotel has echoed calls for action against “aggressive” begging in Colchester.

Suki Dulai, chief executive of Flying Trade Group, which runs The George Hotel, in High Street, also revealed the situation has led to visible security being implemented at the hotel.

He said: “Collectively, as a town, we should be working together to make our town centre a community of leisure, heritage, retail and arts.

“However, the current situation in Colchester is hindered by a small number of people who are aggressively begging for commercial gain and using intimidation tactics, which is causing alarm and distress.

“Consequently, this is causing people to stay away from our town centres, which in turn, will affect the whole economic area.”

Mr Dulai, who is expanding into St Nicholas House, added “We are not talking about genuine homeless people.

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“We are faced with a small number of residents who dupe people into thinking they are homeless to gain revenues for other recreational purposes.

“This has been identified with Colchester Council who are currently dealing with this issue.”

Mr Dulai also revealed he hoped the newly approved Colchester Business Improvement District could also help tackle the problem.

The BID was approved by a majority of town centre firms earlier this month.

He added: “We are passionate about our guests having a pleasurable consumer journey, not only within our establishments, but in Colchester town centre too.

“This is my hometown and I’m committed in making this a thoroughly lovely place to be, one that is safe for all of our children, attractive and clean without fear of getting attacked or pestered for money.”

Mr Dulai added: “We are hindered by this antisocial behaviour and until an improvement is made, we will continue to have security at our hotels.”