On 26th June 1937, the Empire opened its doors as an up-to-date, luxurous Art Deco picture house. The auditorium was of spacious design seating 600 people in total in the circle and stalls areas. It was designed by Alfred and Vincent Burr, the architects also credited with Australia House and the Friars Cinema, Canterbury (now the Marlowe Theatre), as a replacement for an earlier cinema also named the Empire. The films chosen for the original opening performance were Trust The Navy starring Lupino Lane, and Craig's Wife starring Rosalind Russell.

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It remained open throughout the war, with an anti-aircraft gun on the roof, popular with troops stationed at Richborough and Manston. In the 1950's, it was operated by Southern Cinemas, and in 1962, the Empire was sold to Sandwich Town Council with films booked by Jack Field, the proprietor of the Westgate Carlton. In the 60's, Charles Craythorn, producer of BBC Radio's Those Were The Days, became director of the Empire. He reduced the stalls seating and installed a small dance floor in front of the stage. Bingo was introduced three-days-a-week, and wrestling with TV grapplers was also staged under his management. By 1971, films had dwindled to Saturday morning pictures, and bingo became the full-time attraction for the next decade.

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In 1981, the Empire closed down, and the following year, Brian Manley and his daughter Caren Adams took over the lease. They transformed the building with new floors, walls and partitions to provide a snooker club, which opened in October 1987. Sadly, Brian died shortly before the project was completed.

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The cinema, which re-opened for daily films from 10th August 1993, is operational in the former circle section of the building and has still retained the art deco architecture, and can accommodate 130 people. The "new" Empire Cinema being sub-let to Linton Culver, ex-Rank employee and former manager of Ramsgate's Granville Theatre. Linton has run the cinema since. 

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Sandwich welcomed the return of the pictures and another chapter in the Empire's history opened in 1995 when the ground floor snooker club closed, enabling Linton to lease the entire building. Some original 1930's display frames were discovered and rehung in the foyer, which was repainted and the snooker club was converted into the Empire Lounge. Once more, a maple dance floor was laid in front of the stage, and since April 1996, it has played host to Colin Jay's popular weekly Wednesday Tea Dances.

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To​ celebrate the Empire's 60th anniversary in 1997, the cinema had 140 quality seats from Sadlers Wells installed, the building's frontage repainted, with neon lighting and a flag pole reinstated. As on the opening six decades earlier, the Mayor was the special guest at the screening of the 1937 comedy Oh, Mr Porter. The opening films were Craig's Wife and Trust The Navy in 1937, and Sylvester Stallone's Cliffhanger in 1993.

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As in years gone by, live entertainment became an occasional feature of the Lounge in the form of The Good Old Days old time music hall, a concert by the Broadstairs & St Peters Band, and a musical review entitled You're The Tops. It was, and still is, used for pre-film drinks and buffets by charities hiring the cinema section for fundraising screenings, in addition to being used for private hire celebrations and dances.

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2003 marked the 10th anniversary of the re-opening of the cinema, which was refurbished with £10,000 of 130 newly spaced seats. Downstairs in the Lounge, a new retractable screen was fitted, along with Colin Jay's own Theatre Organ, enabling classic films to be shown monthly in a cabaret-style setting, complete with a licensed bar.

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The Empire strives to combine comfort with old-fashioned atmosphere and service. An Automaticket machine is still used daily for the upstairs cinema.

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The latest digital projection equipment has been installed with Dolby digital sound. This will now enable the cinema to obtain and screen the latest film releases in this new improved format. In addition, it is planned to present cultural live shows of opera, ballet and theatre content on a regular basis in 2014. The arrival of digital cinema will provide our audience with a wide choice of entertainment with the added enjoyment of enhanced viewing.

The Lounge section is situated in the original stalls area and has been refurbished with comfortable chairs and tables and a maple dance floor installed in front of the cinema stage. A fully licensed bar is now available in the Lounge. A popular attraction in this area has been the monthly classic cinema presentations.

Visit this unique attractive art deco cinema and enjoy the best in film entertainment in comfort and pleasant surroundings. There is a large car park nearby with no evening charges and seats are bookable for all performances.