Odeon Cheltenham
Winchcombe Street,
Cheltenham,
GL52 2NE
Winchcombe Street,
Cheltenham,
GL52 2NE
2 people
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‘The Celluloid Ladies’, relief sculptures that flanked the Odeon name on the cinema’s frontage, were saved during demolition. They were restored in August 2015 and have been relocated, with an information plaque, to an outside wall of the town’s Brewery Quarter, which contains the Cineworld and Screening Rooms cinemas. See my photos.
This beautiful old building is now sadly gone. I worked as part of the Cheltenham Odeon management team from 1991 – 2005 and when the building was starting to be demolished in the autumn, I managed to secure the old Odeon canopy sign (as seen nearest the camera in Ladygrey’s picture (28/11/10) from a local Bric-a-Brac/antiques shop. When you consider the history of this building (73yrs-old and the birth of ‘Beatlemania’), I feel I have a sentimental bargain
Please check out my report on the demolition of The Odeon, in the Leisure site section of Derelict Places. www.derelictplaces.co.uk
The Odeon is still standing – but only just. It is being demolished as we speak.
A dramatic art moderne/art deco masterpiece. Tragedy it is gone. What a waste!
Sadly, workmen are currently demolishing this cinema. Originally called the Gaumont, it was a music venue as well a picture house. The Beatles played this venue in the early 1960s. In a couple of weeks it will be gone forever.
A picture of the auditorium taken in 1933 can be seen here.
Another photo of The Odeon, taken in April 1999.
I have very fond memories of The Odeon, my Mother used to work there as an usherette in the 1970’s. My Brother and I spent many happy hours there watching films and roaming around the cinema – much to the annoyance of an audience that was watching a film that happened to be on at the time! It is a beautiful building and a much missed cinema, it still stands empty.
The following photos, were taken in My 2000 and 2001.
The last photo was taken in August 2010.
photos i took in 1988 when it still had a central ODEON sign which made sense of the two figures
exterior
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/70182094/
close up
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/364916124/
The Gaumont Palace Theatre, photographed in 1933 soon after opening:
View link
depressing images here on 28 days later, the auditorium has been gutted, the ceiling gone except for the metal girders
View link
In the light of JMQ’s excellent website, I’m pleased to say I stand corrected: there seems to be much in the way of original features that could be preserved if the building were to be restored to its original state. Here’s hoping…
Website about the Cheltenham odeon: View link
The Odeon Cheltenham closed down permanently on 5th November 2006. Odeon management cited competition from the nearby Cineworld multiplex as the main cause.
As the building is, architecturally, a shadow of its former self and furthermore has been messily subdivided, it seems inevitable that the land will be sold off and the building destroyed.