Continentale in the 1970s

The Continentale in 1966, when the double bill of French films comprised Catherine Deneuve in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Anna Karina in De l'Amour.
1966 photos courtesy of Rosalind Davidson.

King's Cliff Cinema/Sudeley Place Picture House (1920-1943)
Metro Cinema (1948)?
Picture Playhouse (1949)
Playhouse Cinema (1949-1951)
Continentale Cinema (1951-1986)

Sudeley Place, Kemp Town, Brighton

1920 Opened as the King's Cliff Cinema (also known as the Sudeley Place Picture House) in a converted Congregational chapel (built in 1891), 370 seats, converted by local architects Denman & Matthew (Brighton). Proprietors are W & R A Easter (see also ElectricEmpire, Hove. Continuous shows, three changes a week, 300 seats, prices 6d-1s 6d. Proscenium is 21 feet wide.
1921 Tea room at the back is knocked through into the main auditorium, adding 78 seats.
1924 Prices are reduced to 5d-1s 3d.
1930 Owned by Mrs L Reith Fellows (see also Tivoli, Western Road Hove). GB-Kalee sound system installed.
1931 Proprietors are L & A Bell.
1934 Prices reduced to 4d-9d.
1939 September 2 Re-opened after (then still incomplete) refurbishment. It closed the next day under the wartime restrictions on cinema opening.
1941 Proprietors are now H S Walker and D J Hayes. Programmes daily from 14:15. Prices 5d-1s 2d.
1943 May Re-opened after temporary closure since 1941.
1946 Renamed Metro News Kine by the new owners (Jack Leslie & Co) with a news theatre policy, but reverts to feature films by the end of July. Prices now 10d-1s 6d, continuous from 15:15, booked at the hall; proscenium width now 14ft, according to the Kinematograph Yearbook British Acoustic Films (BAF) sound system.
1946 November 30 Changed from cinema use to become Playhouse Repertory Theatre
1948 Acquired by Miles Byrne, who at this time is entering the cinema business in Hereford, which becomes his main base. Sunday shows of French films are intro duced. The repertory theatre is dispensed with in favour of films and gives its last performance on 26 March 1949.
1949 March 28 Re-opens as The Playhouse Cinema cinema, leased to George Fernie.
1950 December Closes for installation of heating and 300 new seats.
1951 April 30 The name is changed to Continentale _Playhouse and almost immediately after to the Continentale Cinema, showing European films.
1953 January Infra-red heating system installed. Listed in the current Kinematograph Yearbook as run by Fernie & Sydenham, still booked at the hall. Prices 1s 6d-3s 1d.
1957 Listed as run by G H Fernie. Prices 1d 6d-3s 2d. 300 seats
1961 Converted for Cinemascope. Prices 1s 6d-3s
1965 Owned and, following the death of George Fernie, also managed by the Miles Byrne Organisation (now at 2 St John’s Road, Burgess Hill). Complete refurbishment at a cost of £5,000. Programming changes to art-house films (Jules et Jim) in the evenings, soft porn films (My Bare Lady) in the afternoons, with Hollywood re-runs for the holidays. [The art-house films are later dropped in favour of an all-sex regime.]
1967 Brighton Council refuses to accept the BBFC certificate (X, subsequently reduced to 15) for Joseph Strick's film of James Joyce's Ulysses and briefly bans the film. [Byrne's Orion Cinema in Burgess Hill is meanwhile allowed to show the film.]
1968 Brighton Council briefly refuses to accept the BBFC certificate for the Swedish film I, A Woman.
1968 Booked at hall; 267 seats. Prices 4s, 5s. Screen 20ft x 9ft, Cinemascope
1970 Three shows daily, one change weekly; 250 seats
1986 December Closed, following the death of Miles Byrne. Last film double bill: Off Duty Pleasures and Sexy Couriers.
• Converted into four dwelling units in the late 1980s within the shell of the building.

Brighton cinema directory
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