An ambitious project to Rescue the Regent has been launched in the hope of reopening the derelict seafront building as a performing arts and cultural centre.

The former bingo hall on Deal seafront is owned by the district council and closed in January 2009 after 40 years.

Campaigner Michelle McCutcheon said: "Deal needs our proposals and we have had a wonderful reaction from people in the town.

"The town certainly doesn't need a block of flats on the site, like another Quarterdeck development, and the thought of losing that wonderful iconic Regent building is very upsetting."

The Regent Regeneration Consortium has published its proposals and has support from a variety of organisations and individuals, including the Deal Maritime and Local History Museum, the Deal Society and Deal Festival of Music and the Arts.

It has revealed that more than £175,000 is needed for work to protect the structure and another £500,000 required to convert the old bingo hall into a 300-seat theatre.

The Consortium aims to form a charitable building preservation trust to preserve the Regent, which opened as a covered band pavilion in 1928. It was used as a cinema.

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