The threat to Eastbourne's oldest theatre would have dismayed pianist Russ Conway if he'd lived to see it, say friends of the pianist.

The legendary pianist, who died last year, was one of the most enthusiastic benefactors of the Royal Hippodrome in Seaside Road.

A plaque dedicated to him is due to be unveiled at the theatre on Saturday after he helped save it from demolition in the early Nineties.

But a council report has now recommended the Victorian building be sold off.

Pamela Kuhn, of the 170-strong Royal Hippodrome Friends group, said: "Russ Conway was a great lover of the Hippodrome and certainly one of its benefactors.

"We always had the support of Russ in our efforts to keep this gem of a Victorian theatre alive and kicking for many generations to come.

"He would be turning in his grave if he knew it might have to close."

Mr Conway played summer seasons at the Hippodrome at the height of his career.

He was among a dedicated group of theatre-lovers who rallied round more than ten years ago to stop the Victorian theatre being flattened to make way for a multi-storey carpark.

He became president of the Eastbourne Hippodrome Theatre Company, which carried out extensive restoration work during the last decade.

Much of the work is now complete and the audiences who now pack the theatre for variety shows do so in an auditorium which looks much as it did in 1883.

But the theatre's survival is once more in jeopardy after a council best value report recommended that it be sold.

The report says there are not enough theatregoers in Eastbourne to support the Hippodrome as well as the town's other three theatres.

It recommends the old building be sold off and its management company Matpro's ten-year lease be terminated.

Instead, the council is recommended to concentrate its resources on the Winter Gardens, Congress Theatre and Devonshire Park Theatre, to make up a new "cultural quarter" in the town.