Odeon Hendon

blencowee on August 8, 2012 at 1:15 am

I have so many wonderful memories of this place, I walked past everyday on my way to school my mother worked there for many years and as a child I spent every weekend at the Saturday morning pictures. Mr John Cross the manager was there for years and he was still in post when they closed it down he always let me and my friends in for free and I spent most of the summer holidays playing with his step daughter Gail Harding we had the run of the entire building and we would spend hours watching T.V up in the very top of the cinema in a special room that looked out over the Quadrant. They say that this Cinema was hunted by an old camera man named George I think. The manageress was Mrs Mills and the caretaker was called Ken Brain. I wish I could find Gail we lost touch many years ago she was my best pal at the time. I loved the Oden and was very sad when they knocked it down I seem to remember that Toya Wilcox the singer wanted to buy it and have it as her home, that might just be an urban myth though. Thanks for posting this on here the photo made me smile.

SJT on June 2, 2011 at 7:09 pm

There most certainly was a Circle! I sat there often enough (and indeed had several formative encounters there unrelated to film) It must have seated between 400-500, the rest being in the Stalls (around 800)the back of which had a semi-occluded view of the whole enormous screen because of the overhang. If you look at any of the surviving photos of what was a large building http://www.mawgrim.co.uk/cavalcade/hendon2.jpg you will see that it was very high, with an giant tea-rooms/restaurant behind the windows on the first floor, which backed on to the Circle entrance through a single, central door. As far as I know, right to the end it retained its original, multi-drop curtains: and the decor was pure Art Deco. Do any interior shots exist?

SJT

lostmemory on January 8, 2009 at 7:18 pm

Here are new links for the seven photos posted above.

Photo1

Photo2

Photo3

Photo4

Photo5

Photo6

Photo7