AN EYESORE cinema complex on Brighton seafront could be demolished within six months.

Entertainment giant Rank has submitted a new application to pull down the Kings West Odeon Cinema venue, including the Event II nightclub, at the bottom of West Street and replace it with a ten-screen cinema, three restaurants, a casino and a new club.

Developers say the venue, which will boast 2,590 cinema seats, could link up with the Brighton Centre. It is also envisaged that one 500-seat cinema will host conferences held in the town.

The bid is competing with plans to redevelop the King Alfred Centre in Hove, where Brighton and Hove Council has

approved plans for an 11-screen cinema.

If the Kings West plan is passed, there will be more than 30 cinema screens in a three-mile stretch, including the ten-screen Virgin complex at Brighton Marina.

Geoff Sale, head of new business at the Odeon cinema, said: "We are confident these plans will go through smoothly. Our aim is to get this done as quickly as possible, hopefully before the King Alfred Centre is completed. The planning process will take between three and six months.

"We have had specialist demolition teams looking at the building but the cinema is trading very well and we will not demolish it until the plans are passed."

The plans show a more traditionally styled building, a far cry from the Sixties complex disliked by many in the town.

Meanwhile, plans to redevelop a crumbling cinema by creating a restaurant complex look set to get the go-ahead.

Falcon Land wants to build four restaurants or bars in part of the ABC Cinema in East Street, Brighton. It also intends to convert much of the cinema into a casino, a move which does not need planning permission.

Councillors are expec-ted to approve the application at a meeting on Tuesday.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.