It was the early 1920s and England was trying to return to normal life. Despite tough post-war economic times there were plenty of advances in entertainment, with a boom in drinking, dancing, fashion – and the advent of luxury or ‘super cinemas’. The Regent cinema, unveiled on 27 July 1921, was one of the first that embraced new technology to develop a popular multifunction entertainment centre. 

The cinema, which a few years later boasted a restaurant and orchestra, café and a sprung-floored dance hall, kept ahead of the times by being the first Brighton cinema to install a sound system, as well as a Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ, both in 1929. During its time the cinema screened its own local newsreel. The Regent’s last film was Liza Minnelli’s Cabaret in 1973. The cinema became a bingo hall in 1967.

“On Wednesday afternoons, my father’s half day, in the winter, we always went to the pictures. In the Regent they had budgerigars all along one side in a wire enclosure. We also had tea and toast on a tray, which must have been really dangerous as we had to pass the trays of tea along rows of people.”

Outside Boots’ Queens Road entrance, accessible by a flight of steps, is a small commemorative plaque stating that this is the former location of the Regent cinema.

 

 

 

Continuing along the route, please step back from the crowds when you reach Cinescene.