I scanned my negatives as mentioned above. Some aggressive processing in Photoshop has yielded results as below. They’re not brilliant but do show some of what I saw. There’s only one internal shot and it’s not much cop!
A few additions to Ken’s notes from me – I grew up in Bury.
When the Odeon closed it stood disused and boarded up for several years before it re-opened some time in the mid-1980s as Arena, a roller-skating rink. Its subsequent incarnation as a nightclub began with “The Roxy” which in turn became the current “Sol-Viva” club which occupies the building.
At the time of writing (January 2008), as part of the town centre redevelopment in Bury, the building’s days seem to be numbered. The existing club’s parent company has a continuing lease for three to four more years, but the developers would like to see the building down before this and thus I expect it may be vacated sooner rather than later subject to agreement being reached with the parent company. The redevelopment plans include provision of a new building for the existing club.
I am now in discussions with the club’s management with regard to arranging a trip to photograph the entire building in the near future.
Some personal memories:
I was seven years old when this cinema closed. I can remember seeing several films here, including a double bill of Captain Jack and Spider-Man and Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
My mum remembers the cinema suffered from poor heating and remembers watching several features in uncomfortably cold conditions – probably a contributing factor to the dwindling audiences of the late seventies and early eighties in this cinema.
On closure all the windows and doors were boarded up and the building looked very sorry indeed.
I managed to blag a look around when the place was being converted from Arena to The Roxy and took some pictures but they’re barely legible. I’ll see what my scanner can yield from the negatives, if I can find them.
I dream regularly about the place for some inexplicable reason and have done for many years. I’ve never been inside since the visit mentioned above so perhaps photographing it before it ceases to exist will exorcise a few ghosts for me!
Personally I’d love to see it stay and run again as an Odeon Cinema. Sadly society, the marketplace and the physical building don’t seem up to the challenge. That’s progress I suppose!
I scanned my negatives as mentioned above. Some aggressive processing in Photoshop has yielded results as below. They’re not brilliant but do show some of what I saw. There’s only one internal shot and it’s not much cop!
http://www.titch.net/arenaprocessed1.jpg
http://www.titch.net/arenaprocessed2.jpg
http://www.titch.net/arenaprocessed3.jpg
http://www.titch.net/arenaprocessed4.jpg
http://www.titch.net/arenaprocessed5.jpg
http://www.titch.net/arenaprocessed6.jpg
http://www.titch.net/arenaprocessed7.jpg
A few additions to Ken’s notes from me – I grew up in Bury.
When the Odeon closed it stood disused and boarded up for several years before it re-opened some time in the mid-1980s as Arena, a roller-skating rink. Its subsequent incarnation as a nightclub began with “The Roxy” which in turn became the current “Sol-Viva” club which occupies the building.
At the time of writing (January 2008), as part of the town centre redevelopment in Bury, the building’s days seem to be numbered. The existing club’s parent company has a continuing lease for three to four more years, but the developers would like to see the building down before this and thus I expect it may be vacated sooner rather than later subject to agreement being reached with the parent company. The redevelopment plans include provision of a new building for the existing club.
I am now in discussions with the club’s management with regard to arranging a trip to photograph the entire building in the near future.
Some personal memories:
I was seven years old when this cinema closed. I can remember seeing several films here, including a double bill of Captain Jack and Spider-Man and Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
My mum remembers the cinema suffered from poor heating and remembers watching several features in uncomfortably cold conditions – probably a contributing factor to the dwindling audiences of the late seventies and early eighties in this cinema.
On closure all the windows and doors were boarded up and the building looked very sorry indeed.
I managed to blag a look around when the place was being converted from Arena to The Roxy and took some pictures but they’re barely legible. I’ll see what my scanner can yield from the negatives, if I can find them.
I dream regularly about the place for some inexplicable reason and have done for many years. I’ve never been inside since the visit mentioned above so perhaps photographing it before it ceases to exist will exorcise a few ghosts for me!
Personally I’d love to see it stay and run again as an Odeon Cinema. Sadly society, the marketplace and the physical building don’t seem up to the challenge. That’s progress I suppose!