A rare oblique view of the entrance to the Grand, advertising 'animated pictures" and Greco-Turkish wrestling

Grand Picture Palace (1911-1912)
Coliseum (1912-1917)

78 West Street, Brighton
operated 1911-1917

• The former Grand Concert Hall, where Charles Dickens gave his last Brighton performance in 1868, became a roller-skating rink, owned by J B Mellison, built in 1892 at a cost of £17,000 and designed by local architect Alfred Carden. The rink could seat 3,000 people. Also on this site was the photographic business of Burt Sharp that had been on the site between 1882 and 1891, formerly the Lombardi & Co photographic business, owned by Otto Pfenninger in the 1890s-1900s.
c1905 Occasional film shows in the roller skating rink, possibly before this date.
1907-1908 Known as the Kinematograph Theatre (references in Kinematograph Weekly as well as the Grand Skating Rink, various operators put on seasons of film shows, including Mondial Cinema (September 1907), USA Animated Pictures (May 1908).
1911 Opened as the Grand Picture Palace cinema with 2,000 seats, also known as the Pleasure Palace.
c1912 Renamed the Coliseum.
1913 (October) The general manager is N J Coverdale.
1917 April 3 Closes after a court action is brought by Gaumont against Grand Concert Hall and Picture Palace for non-payment of film rentals, resulting in a judgment for £223.
• Fire destroyed the building in 1919. It was rebuilt as Sherry's Dance Hall and, with the Regent, became the centre of Brighton night life in the interwar years. The building later housed the Paradox night club and Club Barcelona (formerly the Pink Coconut and Crystal Room) and most recently Synergy Centre; it was derelict from 2018. The Middle Street frontage was unchanged (see Cinematheque) until the whole site was demolished and cleared in 2021.

Brighton cinema directory
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