A TEENAGE mum was punched in the face after a row over children misbehaving in a pub play area escalated.

Police were called to the Four Seasons pub, in Victoria Road, Laindon, to reports of a brawl between parents.

The 19-year-old, from Wickford, was left with bruising and swelling to her forehead and nose.

The fight broke out close to the ball pit inside the pub, part of the Greene King chain.

A group of up to five people approached the mum after she complained about unsupervised children in the play area misbehaving.

PC Marek Jaworski said pub staff tried to intervene when the argument turned violent.

He said: "The victim, a 19-year-old woman who lives in Wickford, was in the pub from about 4.30pm with her children, playing and eating.

"After a couple of hours, there was a dispute.

"The problem was surrounding one of the parents not supervising their children while they were playing and their children were misbehaving.

"During the argument, about four or five people came over and this woman just remembers being hit in the face.

"At that point the pub staff came over and tried to intervene.

"Someone at the pub called the police.

"The woman told police that she didn't know who these people were and had not met them before."

In a victim impact statement, the teenager told officers: "My forehead is swollen just above my nose where there is a lump and it feels sore."

She did not need hospital treatment but was left with bruising and swelling around one eye.

It is understood that she was only punched once.

When officers arrived, they broke up the group.

Some of the people involved in the fight then left the pub.

Mr Jaworski is urging anyone with information to come forward.

He added: "There might have been quite a few people eating in that pub that evening who might have seen or overheard this altercation.

"It would have been relatively busy."

The attack, which took place at about 7.30pm on Sunday, May 15 is being treated by police as actual bodily harm.

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information can call Essex Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.