Former Elysium Or Gaiety Cinema

The former Elysium or Gaiety Cinema is a cinema, later adapted to a bingo hall, built in 1914. It is constructed of brick with iron columns, and has a hipped tiled roof to the front. The building comprises a long, narrow auditorium behind a narrower foyer, with a small rear gallery.

The front facade is in a Queen Anne style and is stuccoed, featuring a central piece that projects under the gable. This is flanked by paired pilasters, a dentil cornice, and a gable surround. Central paired windows are set under the gable, and single windows are located on either flank, all contained within decorated architrave surrounds. These windows are wooden, multipaned sashes. The ground floor originally had central paired doors and a single door to the left, though the latter dates to the late 1960s or early 1970s; the space between the doors is currently occupied by boarded-over shop fronts. A blocked window is visible internally on the left-hand side. The canopy has a chrome edging and may retain an earlier canopy underneath.

Inside, the narrow foyer has a coved cornice to the front, and an egg and dart moulded cornice with three plaster panels and corner paterae. The original corner column is still visible on the staircase. The raked auditorium has an arcade on either side, with pilasters between the shallow openings, terminating in swags and shell capitals. The barrel-vaulted ceiling has moulded ribs and circular ventilation holes. A large plastered Caeravon arch forms the proscenium, with a brick rear wall visible behind – this wall likely supported the screen before the introduction of sound. A staircase leads to first-floor offices and toilets at the front, a narrow corridor with egg and dart cornice, and the gallery. The gallery retains a circular egg and dart moulding, possibly for a light fitting, as well as a moulded cornice with two side doorcases with chamfered pilasters. The balustrading is particularly thick, hinting at the possibility of earlier balustrading surviving beneath. A separate staircase leads from the gallery to the south.

The cinema was originally built as the Eastbourne Picture Theatre, becoming the Elysium Cinema in 1921 and the Gaiety in 1936. It is notable as an unusually complete example of a pre-First World War cinema, retaining considerable original plaster decoration.