Odeon Lewisham

Exterior of the then Gaumont Palace is visible in the background as Annette Whiteley wanders aimlessly along Lewisham High Street at night in “Girl on approval” (1962).

I remember seeing Ella Fitzgerald at the Lewisham theatre (Gaumont or Odeon?) around about 1961/2 but can find no mention of her performance anywhere other than one which says that it was moved to the Trocadero due to a fire. Did anyone else see her sing there?

I worked for Mecca Leisure at the time it was taken over by Rank and this led to some interesting characters appearing on the scene. One bloke who was on the maintenance team who came down to the Lewisham club to sort out the air-conditioning system had also just done a quick check and had a brief look round the Odeon to make sure it was still all secure. There was some expectation the time that Rank/Mecca would close the smaller club and reopen the Odeon for bingo….quite aside from the objections from the council, prior to its takeover Mecca had been a major stumbling block for Rank in its attempts to secure planning permission for bingo at the Odeon, and would spend thousands on legal costs opposing the application every time Rank put one forward. Ultimately, Rank did get permission for the Odeon site, though Lewisham council had already sealed its fate by zoning the site as part of a road ‘improvement’ scheme and obviously Rank did not proceed with the only limited life span the building had left. A great pity and loss, of course, and the first cinema that I was ever taken to (there was also a quite nice Wimpy Bar with some peculiar wall decor next door)

A couple more pictures here:–

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/5245600127/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/5246200954/

The Odeon, photographed in May 1971, playing the Rank release:
http://www.mawgrim.co.uk/cavalcade/lewisham.jpg
A set of vintage photographs:
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