Apollo Cinema & Bingo Club

The Apollo Cinema & Bingo Club is an Art Deco building dating from the early 20th century, constructed of brown brick with buff faience detailing, including red ribbing on the tower and entrance bay. Black tiles and vitriolite panels adorn the ground floor entrances and shop fronts. The roof is corrugated asbestos. A two-storeyed circular entrance block at the corner of Brighton Road, finished in black vitriolite on the ground floor and buff faience above, is open to its full height internally. A wrap-around painted canopy with blue ribbing and curved brackets extends over a matching fascia, supported by black-tiled columns. Large upper windows are divided by cylindrical piers. Modern lettering is displayed above. The tower is set back from the entrance block and features ribbed faience work that sweeps to form an asymmetrically curved roof. Banded brickwork is present on the tower’s side and inside elevations. To the right of the entrance block, a low four-window bay has twin panelled exit doors, with a pilastered wall indicating the position of the auditorium. The Brighton Street return elevation shows channelled brickwork on the ground floor and three long windows above, linked by bands of projecting brick. Narrow windows are incorporated into the upper storey, which also has channelled brickwork.

A three-storeyed, four-window shop block fronts the auditorium to the south (Nos 135-141 High Street), with curved corners and two central bays projecting forward. It features black vitriolite fascias and green and black panelled surrounds to the shop fronts, which largely retain their original glazing. Upper windows have been altered and are set within rusticated brick bands.

The interior is notable for its fine, contemporary detailing, including a longitudinal entrance hall with overpainted architectural features such as half-columns, channelled bands, and quatrefoil bronze and bakelite light pendants suspended from a panelled ceiling. Matching wall lights are also present. Low, curved, and stepped jambs frame twin staircases that lead up through half-landings, featuring metal handrails and stepped skirtings to the upper foyer, where original glazing is present on double doors. The auditorium retains much of its original detail, although the balcony area has been partitioned off. The proscenium arch has curved jambs flanked by Art Deco trapezoidal panels filled with horizontal ribs over original fretwork patterns. A full-width overarch defines the reinforced, curved ceiling. Further original details include double doors with glazing, ribbed overdoors, and a fretwork frieze along the rear of the curved balcony.