History
The Odeon was built in 1937 to the design of Harry Weedon and Andrew Mather on the site of the Turkish Baths and the adjoining Alhambra Theatre a large music hall dating from the 1850s. The site cost £550,000, the cinema took seven months to build at a cost of £232,755 with 2116 seats. The opening night was Tuesday 2 November 1937, the film shown that night was The Prisoner of Zenda.
Until 1967, the interior was a magnificent art-deco auditorium, with a ribbed ceiling, concealing stripped lighting. Two bas relief sculptures of naked nymphs were positioned on the side walls, as if leaping towards the screen. All the seats were covered in a faux-leopard skin material. A rather misguided modernisation in 1967 destroyed most of this grandeur, although since the 1980s, restoration programmes have restored much of the detail, including the figures, seating pattern and much of the ribbed effect on the ceiling.
The first wide-screen (screen ratio 1.66:1) ever installed in Great Britain was premiered on 14 May 1953, the film shown was Tonight We Sing. The British debut of CinemaScope (screen ratio 2.55:1) following soon after on 19 November 1953 with the quasi-biblical epic, The Robe.
The theatre's Chief Engineer, Nigel Wolland, was awarded an MBE for services to the film industry in 2007. The theatre's General Manager, Chris Hilton, was awarded an MBE for services to the film industry in 2010.
After Nigel Wolland's retirement in 2006, Mark Nice was appointed the cinema's Chief Engineer.
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