About The 100

The Duke of York’s 100 project was devoted to the centenary of the Grade II listed Duke of York’s Picturehouse in Brighton and wider cinema-going in the city

The Duke of York’s opened on 22nd September 1910 and is still the UK’s oldest purpose-built cinema, as verified by the Cinema Theatres Association. It has continually operated as a cinema throughout its lifetime and is recognized as one of the country’s most important independent cinemas.

Over its first one hundred years 1910-2010 the Duke of York’s transformed  from Edwardian Picture Palace to ‘flea-pit’ to leading independent cinema, representing many stages that reflect what has been the changing nature of cinema exhibition in this country over the century.  This project sought to bring this story alive for a large numbers of Brighton residents by directly involving the community in tracing and celebrating its history.

Throughout 2010 Cinecity worked with community groups to build this Duke of York’s centenary archive. The information including; newspaper articles, verbal and written interviews, photographs, film programmes and other paraphernalia have been uploaded to create a ‘Virtual Museum’.

Oral reminiscences, anecdotes and personal stories of going to the Dukes were shared and can be listened to on our website. Anyone was welcomed to get involved and tell their personal story of the cinema.

As well as the on-line archive the project culminated in an extensive programme of live cinematic screenings, workshops for schools, digital presentations, historical talks & cinema tours that took place across the centenary year.  Celebrating 100 years of cinema and cinema-going in the city.

With future funding we hope that we can keep this site maintained as a valuable research resource for the community,  history and cinema enthusiasts. You can also keep updated with any developments through the current Duke of York’s Picturehouse bookings website and the Cinecity website.