Odeon Chorley

Located on Market Street directly across from Chorley Town Hall. The Odeon was built for and operated by Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Theatres Ltd. chain. It opened on 21st February 1938 with Jack Buchanan in “The Sky’s the Limit”.

Architect Harry Weedon was assisted by P.J. Price from the Harry Weedon Partnership firm. The Art Deco style was typical of an Odeon Theatre being built at the time. The façade was dominated by a huge slim fin-tower feature which was clad in black faience tiles and had the Odeon name on top. Inside the auditorium, seating was in a semi-stadium plan with no overhanging balcony. There were 1,092 seats in the stalls and 434 in the raised tiered balcony section. Illumination was by concealed cove lighting at a proscenium end and by hanging fixtures above the mid stalls and balcony. On the splay wall on each side of the proscenium there were decorative grilles which were either designed by interior designers Mollo & Egan or were in their style.

The Odeon led an uneventful life and was closed by the Rank Organisation on 6th February 1971 with George Lazenby in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. After laying closed and un-used for over two years it was sold to an independent bingo operator and re-opened on 9th August 1973 as a Tudor Bingo Club. It later became a Gala Bingo Club which was renamed Buzz Bingo Club in June 2018. It was closed on March 21, 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. On 15th July 2020 it was announced that the closure would be permanent.

The building was handed over to Chorley Council who decided that asbestos removal would be too costly (at least £500,000.) and the building was demolished in August 2021. The plot of land is now a car park

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