Went into Bolton town centre yesterday, got out of the car on the car park on Great Moor St. behind the old Odeon Cinema. This is what I saw...it's the Odeon Cinema being demolished and you can see the old insides of this beautiful picture house.
I could see the exits, balcony, fancy decorations and even the toilets!
This building has been left derelict in Bolton for years with it's white marble effect front and steps. Quite an imposing building!
Many memories of the Odeon...Saturday Morning Club, Saturday Afternoon Matinees ...cost 2 shillings to watch back in the 1960's! I took Kath (my wife) here on our first dates in the 1970's! (I seem to remember watching the Led Zeppelin movie here, sat in the balcony!)
I did like going to the Odeon..it was plush...carpetted...and next to the bus station!
Links:
In the 1960's I remember bands used to play here as well.
"It was one of Bolton's best-loved venues and hosted 1960s acts such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers, Dusty Springfield and Freddie and the Dreamers. Following interior rebuilding, its three screens showed thousands of films before it closed in January, 1983, when it was turned into a bingo hall amid protests from cinemagoers."
The sound quality and acoustics in this cinema were superb even in the days of analogue technology and the picture quality is not much different than it is today! They still play the same Pearl and Dean music before the adverts in the Multiplex Dolby Digital Cinemas in Bolton now...only difference is it's surround sound!!
Quote from the Bolton News:
"It is the end of an era as workmen move in to demolish the former Odeon cinema building in Bolton town centre.
Developer Woodthorpe Homes wants to turn the venue -which also hosted pop music acts such as Roy Orbison, Chuck Berry and the Bee Gees - into an 11-storey hotel, residential and retail complex.
The scheme includes 50 luxury apartments, offices, basement parking for 86 cars and offices and shops on the ground floor. The hotel section would occupy up to the eighth floor."
Developer Woodthorpe Homes wants to turn the venue -which also hosted pop music acts such as Roy Orbison, Chuck Berry and the Bee Gees - into an 11-storey hotel, residential and retail complex.
The scheme includes 50 luxury apartments, offices, basement parking for 86 cars and offices and shops on the ground floor. The hotel section would occupy up to the eighth floor."
Cinema History:
Lido Cinema: now a huge building of luxury apartments.
Capital Cinema: turned into a JJB Sport's Centre then demolished and replaced with a tax office!
Queens Cinema: became an Asian Cinema then demolished and rebuilt as a Comet store.
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