After a while out, what with university and life getting in the way, I finally got another explore under my belt.
Apologies for the crappy photos, It's been a while since I've achieved a decent explore, and I'm trying to get to grips with a new camera and a cold, dark building is arguably not the best place to learn!
Visited with kent-urbex who was very kind, helpful and patient with me. Many thanks to him for that.
Quick history from Wikipedia:
Located in the city centre of Brighton, The Astoria Theatre was a beautiful Art Deco style cinema, built in 1933, functioning as a cinema with 1,823 seats until 1977; it's last film, A Star is Born ran until May 7th 1977.
2 months after its closure as a cinema, The Astoria reopened as a 1000 capacity bingo hall, after extensive modifcations including the removal of the projection equipment. The Astoria remained open as a bingo hall until a new one opened in 1997, when The Astoria closed its doors for the last time. The building gained questionable Grade II-listed status in 2000, although this is expected to be ignored regarding planning applications.
Numerous proposals and planning applications have been submitted since, with plans for regeneration, demolition and everything in between. The latest was submitted in December 2013 and is expected to be decided upon in March of 2014, to demolish the building and replace it with a 'business centre and media hub' with 6 flats, also included.
The building is now very dilapidated with large amounts of water damage and rotted wood.
It also appears that some of the lights have been disconntected/destroyed and the upstairs is now entirely dark.
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Hopefully I'll make it back in at some point and get some better photos, which I'll probably update this thread with, if I get anything worth it!
Apologies for the crappy photos, It's been a while since I've achieved a decent explore, and I'm trying to get to grips with a new camera and a cold, dark building is arguably not the best place to learn!
Visited with kent-urbex who was very kind, helpful and patient with me. Many thanks to him for that.
Quick history from Wikipedia:
Located in the city centre of Brighton, The Astoria Theatre was a beautiful Art Deco style cinema, built in 1933, functioning as a cinema with 1,823 seats until 1977; it's last film, A Star is Born ran until May 7th 1977.
2 months after its closure as a cinema, The Astoria reopened as a 1000 capacity bingo hall, after extensive modifcations including the removal of the projection equipment. The Astoria remained open as a bingo hall until a new one opened in 1997, when The Astoria closed its doors for the last time. The building gained questionable Grade II-listed status in 2000, although this is expected to be ignored regarding planning applications.
Numerous proposals and planning applications have been submitted since, with plans for regeneration, demolition and everything in between. The latest was submitted in December 2013 and is expected to be decided upon in March of 2014, to demolish the building and replace it with a 'business centre and media hub' with 6 flats, also included.
The building is now very dilapidated with large amounts of water damage and rotted wood.
It also appears that some of the lights have been disconntected/destroyed and the upstairs is now entirely dark.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Hopefully I'll make it back in at some point and get some better photos, which I'll probably update this thread with, if I get anything worth it!
