PLANS to open the region's biggest club for swingers have been dropped, after outraged residents vowed to fight to close it down.

Earlier this month it was announced that the derelict King's Head Hotel in Stanley was to re-open as The Love Shack, a club offering facilities for group sex parties and wife-swapping.

But last Thursday the owners, Viv Archer and Rob Rostron, issued a statement saying they were ending the venture.

The planned bondage dungeons and Karma Sutra room will go and the name will change from The Love Shack to The Local Spa.

The couple will instead open the four-storey building, on the town's High Street, as a conventional hotel with a caf, sauna and steam room.

The statement read: "Archer and Rostron Ltd wish to state that, due to the adverse concerns of local residents, we are dropping the idea of The Love Shack forthwith. The premises will open in the near future as a private hotel with spa facilities.

"We are very grateful for all the support we have received from family, friends and well-wishers and wish to thank the Northern Echo for their fair and unbiased reporting in this matter." Both Mrs Archer and Mr Rostron declined to comment any further.

Derwentside District Council leader Alex Watson said: "I am delighted. I am sure a lot of people, especially in private houses nearby are also happy, because this was going to do nothing for the value of their homes.

"I don't doubt that the replacement business will be a success. The building stands at the gateway to Stanley and I am sure they will prosper."

Last year the council gave planning permission for the venture, believing it was going to be a conventional hotel.

On realising their mistake this week, the authority hired a legal team to check the fine print of the planning application.

Coun Watson said he was still intending to press ahead with an emergency committee meeting this Thursday, when the barristers were due to present their findings.