Calls of clickety click and two fat ladies rang out from a bingo hall for decades until it fell victim to the whims of fashion.

The hall, built in the early Seventies, was a centre of nightlife in Burgess Hill, attracting hundreds of players looking for entertainment and hoping Lady Luck would call their numbers.

But since it closed, the bingo hall has become a boarded-up eyesore and its broken roof is now a mecca for the town's pigeons.

However, investment company Damworth Holdings has come forward with two plans to breathe new life into the building, which have drawn criticism from neighbours and the police.

The first involves turning it into a 100-seater restaurant and the second a restaurant and bar, which would open until midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Company director Damian Fablon said: "At the moment it is a derelict building. We want to bring it back into use."

He said turning the building into a bar and restaurant would cut crime because it would be in constant use and there would be a CCTV camera.

But people living nearby fear the bar would blight their lives by attracting drunks and troublemakers into the area.

Mr Fablon said he wanted to cater for people in their 20s and 30s as there were not enough venues for them.

Police said 45 violent crimes were carried out within 400m of the bingo hall during the first six months of 2005 and there were 110 incidents of antisocial behaviour.

Statistics collected by paramedics proved that most of the disturbances were caused by drunken people under 25.

Retired naval officer Sarah Voce, of Cyprus Road, said: "We have enough trouble with people coming home late at night as it is.

"They don't walk home quietly, they create havoc. If we have another club, they will play music until all hours of the night."

She said the building should be used as a community centre.

Mary Pinner, of nearby Mill Road, said: "I am convinced it will cause more disruption. There are too many of these places already, it's getting as bad as Brighton."

Bar owner Paul Ground set up Mooch@76 in Church Walk last year with his business partner Lee Saunders and was featured in the Channel 4 documentary Risking it All.

Before opening their bar, they looked at the bingo hall site but were told there was little chance they would be given permission to launch a bar there.

He said: "Burgess Hill could do with more restaurants but there are already enough bars for the people travelling here."

Mid Sussex district councillors were due to decide whether to grant planning permission at a meeting last night.