Odeon West End

This opened on 19th December 1930 as the Leicester Square Theatre, originally conceived as a live theatre for actor Jack Buchanan. However, it opened with combined movie and stage show presentations and was leased out to various companies in its early years. Original seating capacity was 1,760 in stalls, circle and balcony. In 1968 this original highly decorated interior was totally gutted to be replaced by a bland 1,407 seat auditorium wich remained until its recent twinning.

Beyond the fact that this is a really old-fashioned twin with tight seating, I’ve enjoyed some fun and interesting times here…squeezed in the front rows of the downstairs screen for Harry Potter and Evita or way up top for Strictly Ballroom
The OWE is home to the commerical portion of the London Film Festival – a great chance every year to see pictures before general distribution…In previous years I’ve been to the surprise film a couple of times, and saw the first London screening of Shawshank Redemption which has a massive cult following here
Far from a perfect place to see a movie, but it is a great place to see good audience pictures