I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent article in your This Is Brighton supplement (September 16) about the history of the Duke of York's cinema.

However, I couldn't help but notice one very important name was missing - that of the man who inspired the cinema to keep going and solvent during the Sixties and Seventies, a period when television was putting cinemas out of business at a tremendous rate.

It was Peter Drew Bear who, together with his wife Jean, kept that little cinema going throughout a testing time for all cinemas and particularly independents.

Most evenings, he would be seen in the main foyer, smartly dressed in his tuxedo, greeting his patrons before the evening's entertainment.

He made it his business to ask the customers which films were popular and did his best to put on shows which his public wanted.

Sadly, Peter is no longer with us but my wife and I, together with a great many other Sussex folk, will remember he and "The Dukes" with much affection.

-L Hill, Ferring