Names on the buses

703 Myles Byrne

Connections with Brighton and Hove : Myles Byrne was a cinema owner in Brighton who also ran the theatre at the end of the Palace Pier. Born in 1919, he attended a stage school and as a teenager starred in the West End with Dame Peggy Ashcroft. He became fed up with being given roles as teenagers because of his youthful looks and decided to go into theatre management. As an impresario, Byrne made stars out of several actors in Crossroads and also discovered Wilfrid Brambell who starred in Steptoe and Son. In Brighton and Hove which he loved, he ran the Continental and Embassy cinemas plus the Brighton Film Theatre in North Street. Byrne ran other small cinemas in Sussex and southern England. He was able to make a success out of them when large organisations found them uneconomic. He loved a challenge and took on the Palace Pier theatre in the late Sixties, putting on sell out shows. Stars he secured for summer seasons included Tommy Trinder, Dick Emery and Ronnie Corbett. Byrne also ran the Adeline Genee Theatre at East Grinstead and kept it going for many years in spite of mounting financial problems. A real character who enjoyed his fame, Byrne was a founder member of the Brighton Entertainment Managers’ Association. He died in 1986.

703 Scania Omnicity - carried name since delivery in December 2008. Metro 5 branding removed May 2013. Repainted into Route 27 livery September 2013. Bus sold in March 2018.