The Hippodrome Theatre, Seaside Road, opened in 1883 as the New Theatre Royal and Opera House, having been granted a Royal Patent by the Prince of Wales.
Mr. C.J. Phipps, a London architect who designed a number of theatres, was asked to draw plans and help raise finance for the scheme. The interior of the new theatre was partly modelled on his, now famous, Savoy Theatre in London. Before the end of the century, most of the famous theatrical personalities of the time had appeared at the theatre, including Ellen Terry and Richard D’Oyly Carte’s Savoy Opera Company.
In 1904 the theatre was renamed the Eastbourne Hippodrome and began a period of twice nightly variety shows. Among those performing before WW1 were Ada Reeve, Harry Houdini (who made a well publicised escape from Eastbourne police cells), Harry Tate, Marie Lloyd, Hetty King, Robb Wilton and Fred Karno’s Famous Troupe. Between the wars the theatre adapted and put on a number of different entertainments, including plays and films. And such stars as Vic Oliver, Cyril Fletcher, and Elsie and Doris Waters, then billed as ‘Stars of Radio’, appeared.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the theatre was bought by Eastbourne Borough Council and still the variety stars kept coming, including Tommy Trinder, Vera Lynn, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Ken Dodd, Roy Hudd, and Bruce Forsyth, who was appearing at the Royal Hippodrome when he was called up to compere Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
During the 70s, 80s, and 90s, performances and the summer season continued at Royal Hippodrome Theatre but it also saw a variety of uses, including serving as a rehearsal space for Paul McCartney and Wings in 1979 and featuring in the opening sequence of a “French and Saunders” episode in 1990.
At the end 2007 Eastbourne Borough Council took the lease back from Matthews Productions and spent a considerable amount of money on the theatre to bring it up to date with current legislation. The venue was completely rewired and numerous improvements were made backstage. The Summer Season production still continued to run each year from April – October produced by a various production companies.
For the summer Season 2012, Lee Moon Productions produced Sentimental Journey with headliner Jimmy Cricket, and this is when the Eastbourne Hospitality Association got involved by promoting the show and advertising the show in the many hotels in the town. Eastbourne Borough Council wanted to off-load the Royal Hippodrome Theatre and hoped The newly set up Royal Hippodrome Trust would take on the running of the building, as they were not in a position to do this the council looked for an alternative solution. In 2013 the council agreed to two hoteliers to take over the running of the theatre on a licence for one year (RHT Management) with the aim of setting up a community interest company in 2014. RHT Management successfully set up The Royal Hippodrome Eastbourne Community Interest Company and the licence was extended each year.
The theatre is now run by local couple Alex and Debbie Adams, who took over the running of the theatre in 2018 and bought the theatre from the council in 2023.
Since Alex and Debbie took over, the building has undergone major restorative works including a facade restoration in 2018, a foyer extension in 2019 and a huge refurbishment of the theatre’s auditorium which coincided with the theatre’s 140th anniversary year in 2023. They have many more plans to improve and enhance the theatrical experience for all theatre goers and look forward to an exciting and fulfilling future.
