The Brighton Hippodrome is a building in need of deep pockets as the neglect is now so extensive that it has significant and fundamental problems.   The history of the building is well documented elsewhere and a few links are shown below.   You can learn about the early history as an ice-skating rink, its time as a circus, the involvement of renewed theatre designer Frank Matcham, its music venue credentials with performances from The Beatles and the Rolling Stones and much more.

As it stands now, in June 2020, the building is far from those days when it could be filled with happy customers enjoying a night out.   It was last used as a bingo hall and when the doors were closed it was left to literally rot.   There have been a few attempts to do something with it, some ideas being more controversial than others.  One significant advantage is that the fly-tower is still in place.   This tower is located above and behind the stage and means that curtains and staging can be lowered and raised into position.   It is a ‘must have’ for a small theatre.

I have made a fully functional 3D walk around of the main auditorium.  Click on the link below and then use your mouse or track pad to look around, up and down and move through the auditorium.

Brighton Hippodrome internal 3D of the main auditorium

The photos shown below are of some of the other parts of the building and the extent of the dry rot, wet rot and fractured fibrous lime plaster can be clearly seen.   These photos are a brief glimpse of the state of the building.   All parts of it, inside and out, are equally bad.

The following links provide useful and interesting background to the building.

Wikipedia

Theatres Trust

Heritage at Risk

Frank Matcham Society

Historic England List Entry

It is a tragedy that the building has been allowed to fall into this state and it is an example that the greatest risk to a building is a lack of use.

Update – September 2020.

The building has been sold to a local property developer.   Yet another scheme will no doubt be prepared and another year or two will probably elapse while plans are devised and considered.  In the meantime, the water ingress in the fly tower will continue to allow significant wet rot and dry rot to progress.

Update – August 2024

There is a free public open day on Friday 30th August 2024 to see the building before the refurbishment.

Some BBC news stories on the building..:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42792517

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99444xx0p5o

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79w5ny7929o