Support for Curzon

Both say they are writing to Rother District Council to object to plans to develop the site as a retail unit and flats.

One is Nick Prince who ran the Curzon in the early 1990’s as a passionate supporter of classic cinemas. He went on to become organiser for the BNP in the South East.

He claims he offered to lease it but was not taken up on this by letting agent Maltby’s handling the premises.

This week he told the Observer: “I really want to save the cinema.”

He opposes redevelopment and has told RDC he would like to lease it as a commercial venture showing a mix of mainstream, family and art-house presentations.

He commented: “I would propose twinning the auditorium into two cinemas in the short to medium term - the second would be a digital cinema, which would enable release date films in Bexhill. Screen advertising revenue is guaranteed to cover the rent of the premises.

“I will also beg to differ that the premises that have housed the present cinema since 1974 are under water - although the former stalls/Bingo club/Antiques Market no doubt are and were always served by a sump pump. I have offered to show the agents where this is but I was not taken up on the offer.

“I was behind one of the offers to run the cinema when Redstack were granted the lease but apparently my offer was not in the running as I only wanted to lease the cinema part of the premises and the owners were adamant that the whole lot had to be leased out.”

He said he is still happy to rent the cinema at what was the asking rent of £10,000, and also believes a modern shop could be built within the shell of the ground floor while the cinema remains operating upstairs.

He urged others to write to RDC’s planning office to voice their objection.

Gino Forte of Maltby’s responded :“We were instructed to remove the property from the market and to investigate an alternative use”.

“The multi million pound scheme which has been selected will not only enhance Western Road but also provide additional employment to the town centre.”

Also adding his voice is Andrew Crotty who was a manager and still lives in Western Road.

He criticised Gino in last week’s Observer describing redevelopment as “a unique and exciting opportunity”, and said this was “balderdash”.

He suggested other empty premises in the town centre might be more suitable for redevelopment such as longtime empty shops in Devonshire Road or the former Grand Hotel in Sea Road.

Andrew asked: “Why do we need 14 more luxury apartments when we can’t even park in Western Road? These things need to be addressed - it is just ridiculous. Why do we need 14 more flats when we have got two empty blocks of flats on the seafront?”

He added: “Greed should not outweigh sense. I will say though of the cinema that people should have been using it more.”