Built in 1933 in the Art Deco style for a local entertainment magnate who opened one of Brighton's first cinemas many years earlier, it was the first and most important expansion of the Astoria brand outside London.

About 20 years of use as a bingo hall followed, but the building—whose clean lines gave "a sense of spacious grandeur"[1] in a prominent city-centre site—stood empty from 2007 onward and passed through several owners.

Pioneering cinematographers who lived and worked in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries included William Friese-Greene, George Albert Smith[2] (who founded one of the world's first film studios at St Ann's Well Gardens in Hove)[3] and Esmé Collings.

[6][7] Thursday 21 December 1933 was the opening night;[9] Cooper Rawson mp and Margaret Hardy, respectively Brighton's Member of Parliament and Mayor, made the inaugural speeches.

These were followed by a Movietone News newsreel, features by Pathé and Disney (Santa's Workshop) and the main film—The Private Life of Henry VIII starring Charles Laughton.

[6] Lyons died in August 1934, having overseen the openings of new Astorias at Cliftonville and Purley and an ultimately abortive scheme in Worthing, another seaside resort near Brighton.

In 1937, though, the Odeon opened on West Street and took the Astoria's place among the elite; thereafter it was relegated to "B-circuit" status in ABC's portfolio, meaning it missed out on the most attractive films and could only book those which were not popular enough for the "A-circuit".

In August of that year, for example, Gene Autry was brought down to Brighton on a train and made a personal appearance, and Tod Slaughter visited for every showing of The Face at the Window, in which he starred.

[14] Then in 1958 a major renovation took place with the aim of establishing the cinema as "a roadshow house for [showing] extended runs outside London's West End".

A new, larger screen was erected in front of the proscenium, the Compton organ was taken out, the balconies were altered and some space was used to house a new projector, and the auditorium was hidden behind curtains.

They carried out extensive works at a cost of £150,000 (£1,360,000 as of 2025))[16] to convert the building into a 1,000-capacity bingo hall: the stepped interior was flattened, the screen and projection equipment were removed and new furniture was put in.

He owned several heritage buildings in the city,[22] such as the Grade II*-listed British Engineerium in Hove—an 1860s water pumping station which had been turned into an industrial museum but which was threatened with demolition until he bought it for £1.25m in 2006 and restored it.

[7] As part of a council-sponsored scheme to improve the visual appeal of empty buildings in the city, a local artist was commissioned in June 2010 to paint Art Deco-style murals on the Astoria's façade.

[29] An initial threat to demolish the Astoria and redevelop the site for housing was averted when the building was listed[30] in 2000, prior to its purchase by members of Stomp.

New proposals to demolish the building first came to light in August 2010, when developers Conran and Partners (acting as agents for Holland)[22] organised a meeting with Brighton and Hove City Council to discuss a planning application they intended to submit.

[32] The report considered by the council committee stated that at least £3.5 million would have to be spent on refurbishment, no suitable plans or schemes had been submitted by any person or organisation, and the building was "genuinely redundant".

[25] The proposed development was described as a business centre and "media hub"[22] with offices, community meeting facilities, a café, roof terrace and gardens.

The developers stated that it would support about 170 jobs,[32] encourage regeneration of the London Road/Valley Gardens area and provide the focus for a "creative café culture".

[25] English Heritage agreed with the surveyor that the building's historic interest had been reduced and that its dilapidated condition had made renovation unviable; restoration would have cost £3.5m according to the developer's estimates.

The city council was expected to decide on the application in March 2014,[33] and in that month granted approval[34] which remained valid as of May 2015[update];[35] but in December 2014 Holland sold the building to Unicity, part of Knightsbridge Student Housing.

[36] Six months earlier it was stated that the new Brighton Rox development which would replace it would cover about 67,000 square feet (6,200 m2) and would include shop and office units at ground-floor level and six storeys of flats above, with between one and four bedrooms.

A 1980s office block (Trustcard House) adjoins the site of the Astoria on the south side; a flint and brick Baptist church of 1903 by George Baines stands to the north; and other nearby buildings include the elaborate Tudor Revival King and Queen pub and the Neo-Georgian Allied Irish Bank branch, both built in the 1930s and Grade II-listed.

[47] A souvenir brochure[note 1] produced for the opening night contained details of all companies and contractors involved in building and fitting out the Astoria.

[27] The walls were of brick with faience decoration and a façade of pale stone blocks, hiding a steel frame and topped by a flat roof.

[27] The "handsome" façade was 45 metres (148 ft) wide and was simply detailed, "avoiding gratuitous decoration" and instead "[relying] mainly on proportion to achieve a sense of spacious grandeur".

[1] It was in two parts: to the left (south), a slightly recessed ten-bay section with a strong horizontal emphasis, consisting of shop units (latterly boarded up) at ground-floor level, a tea-room above and offices on the top floor.

[1] The original stage, dressing rooms, balconies and fly tower were behind the shops and offices of the south range; the auditorium was behind the entrance to the north.

[27][42] The façade of the derelict Astoria theatre features on the front cover of Brighton Darkness, a book of short stories by Brighton-based writer John Roman Baker.