A campaign to bring live performances back to the Brighton Hippodrome is gathering pace.

Signatures on a petition calling for a space for live performance to be included in £18 million refurbishment plans for the theatre are being added at a rate of more than two a minute.

More than 4,800 people had signed the petition by yesterday lunchtime calling on Brighton and Hove City Council and English Heritage to reject the current plans for an eight-screen cinema at the building in Middle Street in Brighton, which was last used as a theatre in 1965.

Click here to sign the petition.