Duke of York Cinema, Beaconsfield Road, Brighton

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 11 Oct 2015

Claimed to be the oldest continuously operated cinema in Britain and certainly the last single screen venue left in Brighton. Built in 1910 on the site of a former brewery though utilising some of the features in its design by developer and actress Violet Melnotte-Wyatt. The newly opened cinema included an electric projector, 800 tip up seats and modern air conditioning. Melnotte-Wyatt sold the cinema to Sussex Picturedrome Ltd in 1918 who installed sound equipment in 1930 and refurbished the interior in 1937. The cinema hit hard times in the 1950s and was sold in 1963 to Peter Drew-Bear, its manager, who introduced bingo nights in 1965 in an attempt to break even. After nearly a decade of trying he sold out in 1976 to Victory Theatres who had a track record of converting cinemas to bingo halls but whose failure meant it was sold again in 1978 to Pavilion Theatres who decided against conversion but were unable to attract mainstream films. As a consequence it passed hands once more in 1981 but this time to a company who decided to focus entirely on arthouse films which began to steadily build a cult following with the town's student population. Problems still persisted however, the interior had been become ever more shabby and closure still threatened from time to time particularly when one set of owners went bankrupt in 1994. City Screen took over the running after a period in the hands of the receivers and have gradually turned the cinema into one of the most popular art house venues on the circuit eventually expanding to a second screen within the Komedia complex in the centre of town. In the long term there are plans to expand into the neighbouring fire station should that ever move to a new site. The cinema's success lies not only with the films, often not shown anywhere else in town, but also to various events it holds; it is home to the Brighton Film Festival, often holds fancy dress all nighters and the annual Eurovision Song Contest is shown here. The dancing legs arrived in 1991 and were originally located on the balcony above the entrance. These were removed to the roof in 1995 to allow the balcony to be used as an outside area to the bar.

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