“The residents of Deal and its visitors need and deserve a cinema. That was the proviso and intention when the Regent was sold and to watch this beautiful building slowly rotting in the face of this demand is a tragedy and a disgrace.”

“Deal is crying out for a cinema and the Regent has been standing empty since I came here to live 19 years ago. It could have so much potential…”

“This is an important local building and a landmark in Deal that deserves to be cherished and used. For a developer to allow a site to degrade, do nothing and just wait for a restrictive covenant to lapse is cynical, exploitative and only in the end leads to quick-fix new development which itself is just as cynical and heartless.”

“There are few rituals as old as hearing a story together. As technology increasingly isolates us and we see and hear more stories at home, alone or only with family, cinemas and theatres have become much more importantc social meeting spaces. They provide a centre, a heart to a community. They are the antidote to the dreadful plioght of loneliness which is far more widespread than one images. Save the Regent Cinema!”

“The Regent is an important landmark that needs saving. You have a pier. A beach. The sea. Then you have that all-important hall or venue – or cinema. It's synonymous with seaside towns. It's gone into rack and ruin. It's crumbling away.

I want to see it restored to a cinema and brought back to it's former glory once more. Deal needs a cinema. When I was growing up in Deal we had THREE!”