A partygoer has been left with a £1,000 dentist bill after a thug punched him in the face and broke his two front teeth during a night out.

James Phillips, 25, was brutally attacked until he fell unconscious as he was celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday in The Red Door, in Rayleigh’s High Street, on Saturday night.

He told how the assault happened as he was moving through the crowd in the bar with two drinks when he encountered a group of up to five men.

As he tried to make his way through the group, he accidentally nudged into one of them.

Mr Phillips, who lives in Rayleigh, said: “It was absolutely rammed and there was a group of guys I couldn’t get past. I said excuse me but they just ignored me.

“I turned sideways to shuffle my way through when I knocked into one of them. It wasn’t hard because I didn’t spill the drink.

“He pushed me forward on my back. I didn’t confront them or turn around, I looked over my shoulder and I heard them saying ‘you don’t know who we are’.”

Following a short exchange, Mr Phillips, a director of a recruitment company, was pulled into a headlock and punched in the mouth.

He said: “The last thing I remember is looking at my mate and thinking ‘what’s their problem?’ and the next moment I was waking up outside with blood all over me. I’d just blacked out.

“My big front tooth and the one to the right of it were completely broken. They were pushed so far back into my mouth that I couldn’t close my mouth.”

He was taken to Southend Hospital by ambulance with cuts and swelling to his mouth and has since paid £500 for a dentist to fix his teeth.

He is also facing paying at least an extra £400 for two root canals.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Police were contacted at 11.30pm with reports a man had been assaulted at The Red Door in High Street, Rayleigh.

“A 25-year-old man from Rayleigh was approached from behind and punched in the face.

“He was knocked unconscious and taken to hospital with facial injuries.

“Enquiries are ongoing to trace the suspect.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.