The Regent was originally built in 1928 as an indoor performance space, primarily for live band concerts, and known as the Deal Pavilion. It was converted into a cinema in 1933 and then a Bingo Hall in 1963, and was used for bingo until 2008.

During conversion to use as a cinema:
"The building was also extended to the east towards the beach, with a two-storey block
in rendered brick, in the Art Deco style then de rigeur for movie theatres, on the area
formerly used for the outdoor seating. This housed an entrance foyer and pay booth,
with the projection suite and manager’s offices at first floor level. A semi-circular
entrance vestibule projected forwards towards the sea, crowned with a hemispherical
dome."

"The original 1928 structure, now concealed behind 1933 plasterwork, belongs in a
genre of seaside concert halls more usually associated with piers."

"Its 1930s Art Deco façade on Beach Street is easily recognisable from a wide stretch of the beach and the pier, and it has been recognised as a (non-designated) Local Heritage Asset." (1)

<1> Arts Architechture International, 2018, The Regent Cinema, Deal, Design, access and heritage statement (Unpublished document). SKE52101.