An ode to the Duke!

On the spur of the moment we decided to go to the movies on Saturday night and as per normal we ended up at the Duke of York Cinema. But we didn’t realise until the film was introduced, that Saturday night was a special night there. The 97th anniversary of the Cinemas opening. To celebrate they were having a special screening of ‘Brighton Rock’ a film that was shot in Brighton and first screened here over 60 years ago.

Opened on Sept 22nd 1910 the Duke of York was originally a high class cinema with a catch phrase of “Bring her to the Duke’s, it’s fit for a Duchess”. It is the oldest cinema in England and must have seen much in its lifetime. Wars, depressions, mods, rockers and punks, you name it! Over the past 97 years the Cinema has seen both good and bad times but it wasn’t until 1995 when it was bought by City Screen that it was returned to its hey-day glory.
Other cinema’s closer to the city centre have come and gone but the Duke of York remains as loved and enjoyed today as it was when it first opened.

I can’t tell you how much we personally love this old cinema. The seats are comfy, the floors clean, they sell homemade foods (cakes and stuff) you can take a beer or wine into the cinema with you, their ice-cream is very good and the bar upstairs is well stocked. The line up of independent films and film festivals is always unbelievably good and when you add that to the architecture and the decedent old world auditorium you have a cinema worth going to.
It’s our cinema, it’s local, its history. It’s got class and elegance and is perfect for sinking into those plush velvet seats and letting go of reality for an hour or two!

To be there on the actual anniversary was quite special, especially since we had no idea that that was the actual day. The movie was pretty good too. Staring Richard Attenborough it was about the seedy mob underworld that Brighton ‘used’ to have. Loads of fun watching the screen and seeing places that we go too today, streets that we know and landmarks that we recognise.

Brighton just wouldn’t be Brighton without the Duke of York. Happy Birthday!!!!!