Uncovering the fascinating history of the De Luxe amusements on Hastings seafront

Now local historian Steve Peak has shed some light on the history of the Pelahm Place building.

He writes: Pelham Place began life in 1820 as a block of high-class residences that were to set the tone for the major development from Pelham Crescent through to Wellington Square in the following years.

Construction of the Wellington Square and Russell Street area had begun in 1816, and it was to carry on through the 1820s.

Meanwhile, on the seafront, the owner of Hastings Castle - Thomas Pelham, the 2nd Earl of Chichester - decided to have a large part of the Castle and the cliff below it cut back so that he could build there.

In 1820 he constructed the big eight-house terrace of Pelham Place (where the Deluxe is today), and then in 1823 he started on Pelham Crescent, with its underlying arcade and shops, plus St-Mary-in-the-Castle Church, which were all completed by early 1828.

This architectural landmark was then completed by the construction of the Breeds Place terrace of eight houses (now gone) joining the west end of the Crescent, and designed to balance Pelham Place to the east.

The 19th century photo shows a cannon which was installed on the seafront in 1857 after being captured from the Russians during the Crimean War. Around 1930, when the seafront was being improved by Sidney Little, the cannon was relocated outside Hastings Museum, and then in 1942 removed as part of the wartime metal-for-munitions campaign.

In 1898 the six Pelham Place houses furthest from the camera were demolished and the ‘Hastings Empire Theatre of Varieties’ was built. This music hall opened on 1st April 1899, with the famous Marie Lloyd topping the bill. A surveyor said it was “very substantially built of brick and terra cotta, and of concrete and iron construction throughout.”

Following a partial re-design inside, the Empire was relaunched in August 1903 as the more wide-ranging Hastings Hippodrome. New attractions included a film show and “Paul Conchas (cannon ball juggler), Zanfretto & Napio (musical knife grinders), M Slippere (blind pianist) and Michael Braham’s Educated Dog.”

But in the following years this was not successful, so in 1910 the Hippodrome was converted into the ‘Royal Cinema de Luxe’. A thousand people turned up at the self-styled “finest cinematograph theatre in the world” on its opening night on 19 November.

It remained a cinema until 1965, being usually known as just ‘The Deluxe’, which is pronounced locally as ‘deloo’ rather than ‘delux’. Then on 25 July 1965 it re-opened as the De Luxe Bingo and Social Club, with the last film a few days before being She, starring Ursula Andress.

In 1970 major changes were made to the building, with the bingo moving to the upper floor and the ground being given over to amusements machines. Some councillors opposed the controversial project, but the proprietor Harry Simmonds was given the go-ahead by the Council’s planning committee as long as he closed Harry’s Old Town Bingo premises on the corner of All Saints Street and Rock-a-Nore Road.

Half a century later, what is now called ‘The Deluxe’ remains a popular amusements and bingo centre.

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