Grand Theatre

Located in the East Sussex seaside town of Brighton. Originally built in 1891 as circus for Fred Ginnett. It was remodelled to the plans of architect Frank Matcham in 1894 who converted it into the 1,710-seat Eden Theatre. He used local architects Clayton & Black to oversea the work. The proscenium was 32ft wide and the stage 23ft deep. In 1905 it was re-named Grand Theatre of Varieties.

New owners took over in late-1930 and it was converted into the Grand Cinema with a reduced seating capacity of 1,200. On 22nd January 1931 it was equipped with a Western Electric(WE) sound system and re-opened on 26th January 1931 with Bessie Love in “Good News” and Conrad Nagel in “The Ship From Shanghai”. The Grand Cinema was closed on 13th October 1940 with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in “Safari” and Marlene Dietrich in “Desire”.

It was closed for nine months and re-opened as the Grand Theatre presenting variety shows. The Grand Theatre was finally closed on 31st January 1955 with Joyce Golding in “New Year Road Show”.

It became a furniture factory until it was destroyed by fire in 1965. The remains were demolished and an office block named Gresham House was built on the site.

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