The owner of a popular Southend nightspot has praised staff for leading customers to safety after two fires in less than a week.

Robin Levy, of Baker's Bar, said customers were not in danger during the two incidents - sparked by electrical fires in the ventilation system.

Around 500 people were evacuated in the early hours of Saturday morning after the basement bar in Alexandra Street filled with smoke.

The same thing had happened at around the same time four days earlier

Both incidents were caused by faulty heaters on the roof of the building, Mr Levy said.

"A new air handling system has been installed and an air conditioning unit," he explained. One takes in the fresh air and throws the dirty air out and other conditions the air making it hot or cold.

"One heater bank ignited on Tuesday, causing smoke to be drawn into Baker's Bar and the upstairs floor.

"We called out the engineers, they scratched their heads and then on Friday night the other heater bank ignited.

"We suspect both machines are faulty, but we don't know what happened until a specialist gives us a report."

The bar's new first-floor extension - called the Mezzanine - is still set to open in the next few weeks.

When it opens, the complex will have a combined capacity of almost 1,000.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.