THE leader of Colchester Council has said a story about a porn film being shot in the town hall has "reached its climax".

Mark Cory added the embarrassing episode was certainly not something the council wanted to be known for.

The Gazette last week revealed the council discovered the adult film was being made in a former restaurant under the Town Hall, known as The Cells.

A source told the Gazette noises were heard by Town Hall security who investigated.

The council said it was "shocked" by the discovery and took immediate legal action to stop he filming as quickly as possible.

Since then, the story has been picked up by the BBC and Daily Mirror and Italian news outlets TgCom24, Leggo and Il Giornale.

Lib Dem Mr Cory said: “It was definitely an interesting story.

“Some people may have laughed at it and it has brought us a lot of publicity.

“The long-term leasehold we have on this part of the property and businesses that rent bring investments to the town, but we do not condone it being used for activities like this.

“We are carrying out investigations and we will be discussing our lease with the current tenant.

“We are very good at creative industries in the town but not like that.

“It is a done story and there is not much else to say.

“It has reached its climax shall we say.”

Colchester Council rents the closed space to restaurant owners Bob Bettis and his daughter and son-in-law Stephanie and Gabriel Pacheco.

The Cells, a prison-themed restaurant, closed in 2017.

Mrs Pacheco insisted they had no idea of the nature of the filming which was carried out by a third party, and were "embarrassed" by what happened.