At the time it contained the Coronation Hall, which was used for roller skating, exhibitions, concerts and events, and the Electric Theatre, the first cinema run for paying audiences in West Sussex.

Following the outbreak of World War I leading residents of the town objected to the German name and after a competition with a prize of £1, the Cinema was renamed "The Dome".

Seebold's additions were the Coronation Hall, a skating rink and the Electric Theatre, which displayed short, silent cartoons.

The films Seebold showed in the Electric Theatre were sufficiently profitable that he converted the Coronation Hall so that it could serve as a second cinema screen in 1913.

[4] In a retrospective published by The Argus (Brighton) on 4 September 2003 it is stated: The £1 prize was divided among the first four people to write in: Miss Mary Summers, of Church Walk; Mr W Tedder, of Lyndhurst Road; Miss F C Philpott, of York Road, and Thomas Chandler, of London Street.It was not until long after World War I had drawn to a close in 1918 that the Dome was converted into a proper, full-time cinema.

Seebold had arranged for a raked floor to be added to the Coronation Hall as a temporary measure in 1914 but it was not until 1921 that the change was made permanent when the Dome was re-modelled by architect R. Kirksby [3] for a sum of £8000.

During the remodelling carried out by Mr Kirksby a plaster ceiling was added to the main theatre, along with a large, wood-panelled foyer and a polygonal ticket booth that remained in the building as of 2004.

For some years the Dome had been the centre of a controversy in that Seebold showed films on Sunday, which was considered a violation of the Sabbath.

Local clergymen and town councillors had been attempting to stop this practice for some time, but Magistrates upheld Seebold's application to carry on.

The Dome carried on, albeit in reduced circumstances, with essentially few changes until fear of German invasion in World War II caused it to briefly close.

The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.After the end of World War II the Dome went into a steady decline due to heavy competition.

Worthing's original town hall and the Georgian Royal Theatre were amongst the buildings torn down in the first phase of this project, which cleared the way for the construction of the Guildbourne Centre.

The redevelopment scheme apparently stalled shortly thereafter, leaving the Dome cinema in the hands of the borough council that had declared the intention to demolish it.

The cinema remained open during this time, however, with the original building split into three parts and leased to three separate business people on a short-term basis.

At the time, the Connaught Theatre had been closed by the council, and Odeon looked into purchasing this as an alternative, but decided the venue was not big enough.

The Dome also received some welcome publicity in 1987 when Director David Leland decided to use the cinema as a location in his film Wish You Were Here, starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell.

Additionally the fact that the Connaught was primarily a theatre meant that pulling down the Dome would have left Worthing, a seaside resort with approximately 100,000 residents, without a cinema.

[3] The campaign against redevelopment continued, with stories appearing in the national press and at least one European newspaper, until Burton Property Trust announced it was withdrawing from the scheme in September 1989.

Several proposals were put forward but ran into planning difficulties, including some that were intended to help improve the cinema by overhauling the front and interior of the building.

The campaign included the creation of a new group called "Friends of the Dome", of which Professor Anthony Field CBE was the president.

Even after this extensive restoration, it was estimated that work costing a further £600,000 was needed and in 1995 Worthing Borough Council decided it was time to put the freehold of the cinema on the market.

In February 1996 there was a public demonstration in front of the town hall and on 4 March 1996 The Times newspaper [11] carried a page three article under the headline "Last Reel for Britain's longest running cinema" with the byline of Marcus Binney.

The addition of the star to the grade II listing meant that any future application for building work had to be considered by the Secretary of State for National Heritage.

In October 1998 with the Dome still on the market, a developer proposed building a nine screen multiplex cinema in Worthing on the site of the Teville Gate shopping centre.

[13] The Heritage Lottery Fund was willing to put up £1,750,000 for the complete restoration of the Dome but only on the condition that the trust raised £500,000 itself first to demonstrate sufficient local interest to make the project worthwhile.

[15] By February 2002 it was reported that the Worthing Dome and Regeneration Trust only needed to raise £250,000 to unlock the £2.5 million available from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Heritage Lottery Fund eventually released the money to the Worthing Dome and Regeneration Trust in October 2003.

[19] The cinema continued normal business until December 2005 when the major work of restoration began and the Dome was closed again.

[citation needed] In 2015, the video for the James Bond-themed song ‘Destiny’[20] recorded by Francon, featuring vocals by Keith Pemberton, was filmed using parts of the interior of the Dome Cinema, Worthing.

[22] The primary viewing screen and lobby area of the Dome are featured in a scene in Season 6 Episode 3 of the Netflix television series Black Mirror, "Beyond the Sea".