POLICE investigating drug dealers in the Rochford area believe a small victory has been won with the closure of a site suspected of being used for dealing.

Officers had received several allegations of drug dealing from a piece of land behind Mason's Bar, in North Street, Rochford.

Young people had been seen hanging around in the overgrown area and it was believed drugs were being sold to them there.

Now the bar - formerly the Old Ship pub - has closed down and the area has been fenced off by developers, the problem seems to have disappeared.

However, in response to questions from Rochford district councillors, Insp Andy Parkman, from Rochford police, told the East Area committee the dealer had probably moved elsewhere.

He said: "It hasn't been sorted. It's resolved itself in the sense that Mason's Bar is no longer trading and the area the alleged activities were going on in has been fenced off. It's resolved itself through environmental changes.

"We had kids who would go to the rear of Mason's. At the side of it was a car park and an overgrown area to the rear. Kids were hanging around the back."

He said the information received by police did not specify what type of drugs were being sold there.

Mr Parkman said: "There was an allegation that someone was drug dealing outside Mason's Bar. Without going into the nature of the intelligence received, it wasn't specific in the nature of the drugs."

Mr Parkman said police were now working on two specific pieces of information relating to drug dealing in the Rochford area.