Regent Cinema
133 Queen's Road,
Brighton,
BN1 3WB
133 Queen's Road,
Brighton,
BN1 3WB
2 people
favorited this theater
The Regent Cinema opened 27th July 1921 by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres Ltd.(PCT) on the site of the historic Unicorn Inn (built 1597, demolished 1920) and other buildings. It was equipped with a Norman Hill & Beard 3Manual organ with 38 stops. Facilities included a Georgian Restaurant with orchestra, Ship Cafe and upstairs on the roof a ‘Winter Garden’, which was converted into a 1,000 capacity dance hall in 1923.
The Regent Cinema was the first of PCT’s super cinemas, costing more than 400,000 pounds. It was designed by Robert Atkinson with interiors by Walpole Champneys, including murals by Walter Bayes, principal of the Royal College of Art. The proscenium was designed by Lawrence Preston of Brighton College of Art.
In January 1929 a fire did much damage to the stage end and auditorium and the building was closed for 18 months while repairs and renovations took place. A new Wurlitzer 2Manual/9Ranks organ was installed and opened by organist Quentin Maclean. By then, Gaumont British Theatres chain were operating the cinema. In later years, it became part of the Rank Organisation.
In July 1967 the ballroom became a bingo hall. The Regent Cinema closed on 14th April 1973 with Liza Minneli in “Cabaret” and it was demolished in 1974, the site being occupied by a Boots chemist store.
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chris perman
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
…But ‘darg shows’ sounds much less camp!
Address: 133 Queens Rd
Here are some photos and history of the Regent Cinema. Two addresses are given, 133 Queen’s Road & 133 North Street. Did this theater have more than one entrance, or was the name of the street changed?
There were two entrances; the entrance on Queen’s Road serviced the main foyer and circle seating area. The North Street entrance serviced the stalls seating area and the lower areas, as this entrance was at a much lower point due to the lay of the land.
Thanks Ken. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t give the wrong address. :)
Here is a photo from around 1930.
This is an undated photo.
Vintage photographs of the Regent Cinema, and more on the Wurlitzer organ and its console:
http://www.ukwurlitzer.co.cc/2046.html
There was a secondary entrance to this huge theatre in North Street, across the side road from the entrance to the Imperial / Essoldo Theatre. Photo here from 1974:–
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/601347459/
My first job as a 4th projectionist started here at the Regent Brighton after I left the army where I trained as a projectionist. Working from there I was trained by Odeon Cinemas as a relief chief projectionist working single manning and worked as a employed and freelance relief projectionist the rest of my woking life. It was a bad day they closed down the Regent Cinema for Brighton. But it was a big building and need a lot of work done to it. The Odeon Film Centre in West Street was built as a replacement for the Regent, The odeon West Street and Odeon Kemp Town. The projectionist from all three cinemas were given jobs at the Odeon Film Centre.