Sudeley Place, Kemp Town, Brighton 15

Continentale in the 1970s

1920 Opened in a converted Congregational chapel, 370 seats, converted by local architects Denman & Matthew (Brighton).
1930 Owned by a Mrs Fellows (see also Tivoli, Western Road Hove). GB-Kalee sound system installed
1939 September 2 Re-opened after refurbishment.
1943 May Closed after temporary closure since 1941.
1947 October 31 Changed from cinema use to become Playhouse Repertory Theatre
1948 Apparently run as the Metro Cinema by Jack Leslie & Co. Although listed in the Kinematograph Yearbook for 1948—prices 10d-1s6d, continuous from 3.15pm, booked at hall; proscenium 14ft, British Acoustic Films (BAF) sound system—it is not mentioned by that name in any local sources consulted so far. 
1949 March 28 Re-opens as The Picture Playhouse cinema. Leased to George Fernie. Local reports claim it is acquired by Myles [sic] Byrne Organisation and renamed Playhouse Cinema. At that time Miles Byrne was entering the cinema business in Hereford and had no apparent Sussex connection until the mid 1960s.
1950 December Closes.
1951 April 30 Renamed Continentale Cinema and showing European films.
1953 Listed in the Kinematograph Yearbook as owned by Fernie & Sydenham, still booked at the hall. Prices 1s 6d-3s 1d.
1957 Listed in the Kinematograph Yearbook as owned by G H Fernie. Prices 1d 6d-3s 2d. 300 seats
1961 Converted for Cinemascope. Prices 1s 6d-3s
1965 Owned and managed by Miles Byrne Organisation (2 St John's Road, Burgess Hill). Complete refurbishment at a cost of £5,000. Programming changes to art-house films in the evenings, pornographic films in the afternoons. [The art-house films are later dropped in favour of an all-sex régime.]
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. [The 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.
Converted into flats in the late 1980s

Brighton cinema directory