Odeon West End

The Leicester Square Theatre was built for Jack Buchanan and Walter Gibbons and Jack Buchanan had a flat built on top of the theatre, which he occupied until it was damaged by bombing in 1940.

Initially intended as a live theatre, there were problems acquiring adjacent properties and the stage space proved insufficient. It opened on 19th December 1930 as a dual purpose live theatre/cinema with 1,760 seats in stalls, circle and balcony levels. There were three boxes adjacent to each side of the proscenium at dress circle level, but these were only used during live performances. The foyer walls were decorated with polished black marble. The first operators were Warner Brothers and the opening programme was the Warner Bros. two-tone Technicolor film “Viennese Nights” starring Vivienne Segal and a stage dance production including Balliol and Merton and the Victoria Girls. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3Manual/10Rank theatre organ.

It was taken over in March 1931 by RKO Radio Pictures. In July 1931, Gracie Fields appeared for a week ‘twice-nightly’ as a prelude to her film “Sally in Our Alley”. Jack Hulbert’s song and dance show ‘The R.K.O. Loudspeakers’ was staged as part of the film programme in August 1931. It was taken over by County Cinemas and re-named Olympic Theatre from 21st March 1932, re-opening with John Stuart in “In a Monastery Garden”. County had commissioned architect Alister G. MacDonald to re-design the entrance and the interior was re-designed by Edward Carrick. A revolve was installed in the centre of the stage at this time. It closed in July 1932 and Jack Buchanan took control again. In August 1932 films were dropped in favour of non-stop variety which began with ‘Non-Stop Revels’ live on stage, non-stop from two ‘til midnight daily. Marie Kendall singing 'Just Like the Ivy’, was one of the artistes appearing. This policy lasted for almost a year.

It was taken over by United Artists and re-opened on 27th September 1933, as a full time cinema, re-named the Leicester Square Theatre again and re-opening with Jack Buchanan’s own film for United Artists “That’s a Good Girl”. It played United Artists pictures first run in London until it was closed again on 18th July 1937.

In 1938 General Film Distributors took control (J. Arthur Rank was one of the directors) and it became the first West End Cinema to be controlled by what would become the Rank Organisation in later years. It was closed for almost a year during 1940/1941 when it suffered bomb damage. Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Theatres Ltd. took over in July 1946 and they closed it in July 1950 for repairs to the war damage. Further repairs were carried out in 1955 and the Leicester Square Theatre then continued until it was closed on 3rd April 1968 with “Carry On Doctor”. The cinema was to undergo a complete interior re-construction. The detailed French Renaissance style interior was totally removed, as was the Wurlitzer organ which was played at special organ concerts right up to closing.

Architects Arnold Dick Associates designed a new ‘modern style’ single screen cinema with a stalls and circle seating areas (removing the balcony) and the interior design was by Cassidy, Farrington and Dennys. Seating was provided for 1,402; 900 in the stalls and 507 in the circle. The Leicester Square Theatre re-opened on 12th December 1968 with Sean Connery in “Shalako”.

It was re-named Odeon West End from 22nd July 1988 with the opening of the comedy film “The Couch Trip”. It closed for twinning on 11th July 1991, re-opening on 11th October 1991 with screen 1 upstairs seating 503 and screen 2 downstairs opening on 1st November 1991 with 848 seats. In 2008, the seating capacities are given as 500 and 834.

The historic facade remains virtually untouched to this day, although the entrance and lobby have been significantly altered. In October 2008, plans were approved by Westminster Council, to demolish the Odeon West End and build a 240-bed hotel on the site. There will be two new screens in the basement, with seating for 440 and 200. Demolition and building work was due to begin in the Summer of 2009, but the plans were put on hold due to the economic situation.

Recent comments (view all 40 comments)

Ian on September 5, 2008 at 8:22 am

Some photos taken in September 2008 here:-
Exterior:-
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Upper foyer:-
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Interior (Odeon 1):-
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danpetitpas on October 20, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Here’s the latest news:

Plans to build a 240-bedroom hotel above a cinema in London’s Leicester Square have been given the go-ahead by Westminster City Council.

Leicester Square Co-ownership Group’s bid to build the four or five star hotel above a new state-of-the-art Odeon cinema are part of plans to regenerate the south west corner of the London square.

Four cafe/restaurants and a rooftop restaurant are also included in the plans, drawn up by architects, Make, who designed The Cube in Birmingham.

Work on the new mirror-fronted building, currently on the site of the Odeon West End cinema, will start next summer.

A spokesperson for the Leicester Square Co-ownership Group said: “This will be a major focal point for Leicester Square â€" bringing new life into a neglected corner of one the London’s landmark destinations and drawing people down to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square.

“The plans centre on a new high quality 4 star or 5star hotel, with a state of the art facility for Odeon, as well as restaurants and cafÈs where people can enjoy the surrounding open space. We also expect the rooftop restaurant, with its prime West End location and spectacular views over London, to be especially popular with residents and visitors and we are looking to start discussions with an operator shortly.”

SethLewis on October 20, 2008 at 1:40 pm

Assume that this is the last year for the London Film Festival screenings here…Coming down to Leicester Square is increasingly a stressful experience…as if they opened a tip of humanity local and tourist to crowd too small and not that attractive a space…a visit to Paris and some rigorous zoning at the risk of knocking out some small merchants is required by Westminster Council…

Matthew57 on July 16, 2009 at 4:27 am

Thought you might like to see my newly updated page on the Leicester Square Theatre with many photographs of the remaining fragments of the original auditorium taken by me in July 2009.

The Odeon West End is now booking to March 2010 so the demolition will most likely take place shortly after that.

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woody on October 24, 2009 at 2:56 am

some photos i took on the red carpet on October 22nd 2009 for the world premiere of Dead Man Running attended by 50 Cent, Danny Dyer, Brenda Blethyn, Mel B, Jamelia, Chipmunk etc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/4038574960/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/4038579550/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/4037829165/

Ian on February 17, 2010 at 12:57 am

Still operating in February 2010:–

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/4364915440/

HowardBHaas on September 21, 2010 at 7:42 pm

Renderings of proposed replacement building:
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woody on October 1, 2010 at 2:04 am

recent photos of screen 2 on the night of The Kid premiere, still a great place to watch a film
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/5039741747/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/5039737655/
some of the groovy 70’s signage
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/5039739561/

KenRoe on October 26, 2010 at 7:08 am

Vintage photographs of the Leicester Square Theatre, and its Wurlitzer organ console:
http://www.ukwurlitzer.co.cc/1525.html

Ian on July 24, 2011 at 1:00 am

A vintage 1987 shot of the Leicester Square Theatre before rebranding view link