Odeon Westover Bournemouth

its been given green light as insider tells me . i’ll have more exclusive on this once i know . at least the site now is going to be converted into flats . the facial front will remain intact from pictures i seen . guess now the pigeons will have to vacate

2019 outline planning application has been “approved in principle.”

Summary details as entered on Bournemouth’s planning database:

“Development and re-development, including partial retention of building including main facade at three levels on the Westover Road frontage to allow for the construction of 1,197sq.m. comparison retail floor space; 67 apartments, 68 car parking spaces, associated servicing facilities, refuse and cycle storage.”

Having never been to Westover Road—or Bournemouth for that matter!—these cinemas are only of passing academic interest to me. But I couldn’t resist having a look at the 28DaysLater photos—and as a result found a “Historic Building Appraisal” (mentioned but not linked to in the 28DaysLater thread.)

It can be found among the documents in a planning application—between Comment 49 and 50 at the bottom of the page.

The appraisal is 142 pages (!) long, with numerous photos, including of the 1969 conversion works. Incredible!

Quite how in such expensive conversions fragments remain which could clearly have easily been removed is beyond me, especially above ceilings where they would seem to be a liability. Then again, shortcuts taken by builders are often very puzzling indeed…

As a result of searching through planning applications on Bournemouth Council’s site, I notice that the address shown on Cinema Treasures is erroneous—27 Westover Road being that of the former ABC.

Closing on 9/2/2017

Wanted: billionaire to buy the UK’s last Cinerama venue

Please contact the campaign a.s.a.p.

Save Bournemouth Odeon Campaign “Striving To Keep Cinema Theatrical"

Please see the campaign support page: https://www.facebook.com/Save-Bournemouth-Odeon-Striving-To-Keep-Cinema-Theatrical-509679079071187/

From the aerial shot it looks like the projection room of the original Gaumont, like several other older Gaumonts, was on the roof. Allen Eyles, in his excellent history of Gaumont British Cinemas, mentions that the projection ports are at the rear of the interior dome. Does anyone know how the projectionists accessed the projection room? Did they use an interior staircase and then have to walk across part of the roof outside? Did this type of design result in an excessively steep throw for the projectors and image distortion for those in the audience who were sitting towards the front of the main floor?

The plan is indeed for the present Odeon and ABC cinemas to close once the ten screen Odeon multiplex is completed on Exeter Road in 2016. I for one can’t imagine Westover Road without its two impressive cinemas overlooking the Pavilion fountains and gardens. No doubt we’ll be told the facade of the Regent/Gaumont/Odeon will be retained to “maintain the streetscape” but what good is that when the cinema itself is gone? The thought of a mega Tesco or the south’s largest Macdonalds sitting behind the famous colonnade is not a happy prospect.

Hello all,

The Save Bournemouth Odeon Campaign (“Striving To Keep Cinema Theatrical”) is growing strength.

Can ex-staff of this building or the ABC down-the-road please contact the campaign a.s.a.p. We have already heard from a few but we would like to meet more people and chat cinema. We have a function planned.

Cheers :)

GilesEngland – Really good to hear about the presentation standards at the Gaumont in such detail – especially the use of the act-drop/house curtain and the precision of the non-sync music. What a sense of occasion and excited anticipation would be created by clever use of tabs and lighting and how “conspicuous by their absence” are such things in today’s uninspired multiplex rooms. At a time when cinemas ought to be pulling out all the stops to make the experience very different from today’s increasingly sophisticated TVs, the opposite seems to be happening – naked screens, lighting like an airport lounge, masking unused, “No thanks!”. I have a home cinema with variable masking, house and screen tabs, three-colour circuit pageant lighting, LED concealed lighting and projected clock. Friends and neighbours love the atmosphere and you should see children’s expressions when colours change and fade as the curtains open and the picture appears as if by magic. Most multiplexes are conveyor belts for the consumption of popcorn and films – in that order – designed by those with neither flair nor imagination but who are capable of feeding numbers of seats and exits, speaker positions, air conditioning and screen dimensions into a computer model. What comes out at the other end is a cinema with no theatrical connection whatsoever; bland, cold, uninspiring and without “magic”.

Although not a local myself, I have a long family history with the town, and have spent a lot of happy times in the area over the last 60 years. To contemplate the replacement of this historic cinema with the anonymity of an underground multiplex doesn’t bear thinking about. It’s a real shame that its operators don’t use its uniqueness as a major selling point. What does their PR department DO with itself all day?

Would be a tragic loss to see this go, 150 seat black boxes are not the same! Good luck with the campaign to save it.

Hello all,

Does anyone have any more information on what the future holds for the Odeon Bournemouth cinema?

It is a truly Beautiful cinema with screen one being unique in its own right. I remember up until several years ago it had fantastic golden curtains, which were illuminated by ceiling lighting where fine colours of yellow, blue, and red changed just before the projector started. I am told that the screen masking is no longer used nor do the curtains move. In fact, blue light is only used now as pictured on this website. A great disappointment!

I do really hope that the Odeon Westover Road, Bournemouth can stay and not be redeveloped into ‘presentation rooms’ like what you see in some other dull cinemas. The screen one in the ABC cinema up the road is also a ‘proper’ cinema. They both form part of the town and my family and I have enjoyed them for many years. They are historically irreplaceable.