The History of the Pavilion

Designed by the London architect Harold Arthur Woodington (designer of Cordings) with its striking stucco plaster façade, the Pavilion is a rare and original theatre, cinema and live entertainment venue – one of a tiny handful remaining of the pre-Great War ciné-performance building boom.

Except for Chaplin’s Coffee Shop that was added by the current owners in 2015, much of the Pavilion remains as it was in the 1930s when playwright R. C. Sherriff joined the cast of the Selsey Players for their production of his world-famous First World War play ‘Journey’s End’.

The Pavilion became a year-round entertainment centre for residents and tourists alike presenting shows, films, dinners and dances that often went on into the early hours! By the mid-1940s, except festive pantomimes, the Pavilion had become a full-time cinema showing up to five films per week and popular Saturday matinees for children.

The final curtain fell on film in the Pavilion in 1974 when the building was let to an aviation catering firm for use as a packing facility until their relocation in 2007.

In recent years the Pavilion has hosted several plays staged by Arts Dream Selsey including The End of The Journey, Tonight at the Pavilion… Charlie Chaplin and Journey’s End to mark the centenary of the 1918 armistice. The late Ellis Berg, Arts Dream Selsey’s former president, unveiled a blue plaque in 2017.