We’ve delved into the Echo archives to have a look at pictures from the town’s disco past.

The demolition of nightspots Liquid, Envy, New York New York and JJs at Basildon’s Festival Leisure Park signalled the end of an era for a generation of south Essex clubbers.

Halstead Gazette:

Getting the chop – workers sawing up the fittings at Raquels during a refurbishment in January 1989

Luminar Leisure, which owns the former superclub, wasted no time in razing the nightspot just two weeks after it closed for the last time.

Halstead Gazette:

Where the ‘stars’ go – loolalikes of George Michael, Cher, Madonna and Michael Jackson at Raquels in January 1992

The club complex has been there in a number of guises since the park opened in 1997.

Halstead Gazette:

Piano man – Strings Piano Bar at Raquels, in Basildon town centre, being opened by David Amess in December 1985

Basildon’s nightclub scene was famous, with people coming to the area from all over the county.