Regent Cinema

In Littlehampton, West Sussex, the Electric Picture Palace opened on Thursday 11th May 1911 in what had previously been the Terminus Hall Theatre and Skating Rink (and in which occasional film shows had already been presented). The site was opposite the railway station.

The owner was Charles Letchford Shepherd of Maxwell Road, Littlehampton. Mr Shepherd’s managing partner, engineer and chief projectionist was his neighbour, Desmond Sidney Holderness.

In 1929 the cinema was sold to H. Filer and S. Shinebaum, and renamed the Regent Cinema in 1931. By 1937 it was part of the H. Filer’s South Downs Cinemas circuit.

The Regent Cinema closed on Wednesday 25th May 1960 after a three day run of “The Shakedown”, starring Donald Pleasence, and “Girl in the Woods”, with Forrest Tucker and Margaret Hayes. Closure was rather abrupt: patrons arriving for the next advertised double bill, “The Flying Fontaines”, with Michael Callan, and Fred MacMurray in “Face of a Fugitive”, found a notice saying that the cinema was ‘Closed until further notice’. South Downs Cinemas hoped this would only be a temporary measure, but admitted to a shortage of films and poor business.

In the event, films did not return. The company re-opened the building as the Regent Bingo and Social Club in June 1961 for the summer season. By January 1962 it was only opening on Fridays, to cater for the reduced population in the winter.

Bingo ceased completely in 1974. The building was subsequently used for auctioneer’s rooms and, in the late-1990s, as Regent House, the premises of the Controlroom Manufacturing Company.

The building has since been demolished. An apartment block occupies the site.

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