Odeon West End

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

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/

Still operating in February 2010:–

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

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.

View link
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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.”

Basically everyone is talking in the West End that the Odeon West End/ Leicester Square Theatre is coming down very soon.

No the “new” Leicester Square Theatre is the former Venue under the church (Notre Dame) just off the square in Leicester Place (next to Prince Charles Cinema. It is to be run by the same people who have the Arts Theatre.

In the last few weeks I’ve heard a lot of comments regarding the closing of this historic building.
When the news that ‘The Venue Theatre’ has been renovated and is to reopen immediately as ‘The Leicester Square Theatre’. This prompts all I speak to, to make the statement that that is OK as the older, bigger one is soon to be demolished anyway'‘. As if a 250 seater former 1940s dance hall fringe venue is to replace the movie palace on the opposite corner of the Square.
I know that redevelopment was mentioned a number of years ago for the Odeon West End side I was under the impression that that had now been abandoned. Any news otherwise????

feb 2008 night time exterior shot as The Bank Job premiere comes out
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2311160086/

Historic details photographs and memorabilia of the Leicester Square Theatre here:
View link

Sorry the pic above is the dressing room block, now used as Odeon offices.

After the 1968 conversion the walls at the front near the screen were sloped inwards, possibly due to the auditorium being extended into the former stage area. The slope did give an unsusual effect when watching films from certain seats. Since the conversion into two screens this effect has been lost.