Odeon Camden Town

The Gaumont Palace opened 25th January 1937 with Paul Robson in “Show Boat” and James Dunn in “The Two Fisted Gentleman” plus the GB Revels on stage. Built by the Gaumont British Theatres chain as a 2,742 seat, super luxury theatre with full stage facilities, the proscenium was 44 feet wide and the stage 31 feet deep. There were 12 dressing rooms for the artistes and a cafe/restaurant was provided for the convenience of patrons. The architects were William E. Trent, W. Sydney Trent and Daniel Mackay. The auditorium was wide and decorated with horizontal bands of colour on the walls under a stepped ceiling containing very pendulous light fittings. The screen opening had large backlit grilles with a metal meshwork in front. The Compton 4Manual/10Rank organ was opened by Terance Casey and was on a platform which emerged through an archway at the side of the stage rather than up through the pit.

Initially known as the Gaumont Palace, Regents Park, it was renamed Gaumont (dropping the Palace name and advertising itself in its actual location in Camden Town) very soon after opening. It became an Odeon 1964 ahead of alterations which created a bingo hall in the stalls with a new 1,198 seat cinema in the circle which opened in 1968. The Odeon closed in 1979, was reopened (reduced in size to 434 seats) as the Gate Cinema from 1980 to 1982. Re-opened again, restored to 1,000 seats as the Parkway Kings Cinema in 1983 with another screen being added in the former restaurant area, known as the Parkway Regency (90 seats). Both were closed in 1993 when the lease was terminated. Odeon took back the building in 1997 and created a 5-screen multiplex in the space. The screens now seat; 403, 88, 226, 88 and 105. Bingo continues in the stalls area.

Recent comments (view all 16 comments)

KenRoe on September 3, 2006 at 1:46 pm

A closer view of the Odeon Camden Town:
http://www.moviebunker.com/odeon_camden_town.htm

Ian on August 10, 2007 at 11:47 am

A series of photos taken in 1986 when it was the Parkway – Kings and Regency cinemas here:–

Exterior
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Foyer
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Kings
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Regency
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woody on December 4, 2007 at 4:16 pm

photos taken nov 2007

grotty exterior with only part of the signage working
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2087447744/
front doors
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2086657247/
lobby – note fab deco ceiling
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2086660487/
stairs to upper lobby
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2087443948/

woody on March 5, 2008 at 4:58 am

side entry now Mecca Bingo in jan 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2310333889/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2311140044/

woody on September 15, 2008 at 5:32 am

newly refurbished frontage sept 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2853854690/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2853850326/

lostmemory on October 4, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Here is another recent photo.

lostmemory on January 5, 2009 at 12:14 pm

This photo might be the same 1971 photo linked to on Sep 11, 2005. That link no longer works.

Ian on April 27, 2009 at 4:31 am

Two photos (including the art deco foyer) here – taken in April 2009:–

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/3478710983/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/3478711197/

Cinefan on June 29, 2009 at 4:38 pm

Just need a bit of clarification.

Was this the first cinema, when owned by ODEON, to get the new Fanatical About Film brand, or is that another cinema?

shadow15 on April 30, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Side entrance (1937):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcinemaphotos/2149060912/