A brief history - opened on 22 September 1910, the Duke of York's lays claim to being the oldest cinema in continuous use in the country, its beautiful frontage instantly recognisable from photos of a bygone era.

Built at a cost of £3,000, the visionary developer of the Duke of York's was former actress Mrs. Violet Melnotte-Wyatt. The cinema was named after the London theatre of the same name which she and her husband Frank Wyatt had built in 1892. The name also coincided topically with the accession to the throne of George V, Duke of York.

The cinema was erected on the site of the old Longhurst's Brewery, the rear part of the malthouse saved and adapted to become the cinema auditorium. Described as a conversion by the leading Brighton architects Clayton and Black, a new Edwardian baroque-style facade was built. This included two shops, selling flowers and French pastries 'shipped from Paris'. (Read More...)

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