Odeon Kettering
35 Gold Street,
Kettering,
NN16 8JL
35 Gold Street,
Kettering,
NN16 8JL
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The Interior was identical to The ABC Empress Sutton Coldfield and the Exterior the same style as the Clifton Evesham second frontage These were designed by the Satchwell and Roberts company of Birmingham It has al the hallmarks of that companies hand in it. The majority shares and the freehold in the Cinema were owned by The Clift Syndicate . I believe that Harry Weedon is wrongly credited. This is a case of putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5.
Ah….One of my local cinemas when I was a lad. I think the screen tabs were unique, as I’ve never seen any other Odeon with tabs of the “dragonfly” design. The Mollo and Egan airbrush paint job on the walls had been obliterated by a redecoration scheme some time in the ‘40’s (I think) as I can only remember the place having a plain light brown interior. I loved the lighting troughs and I think these point to being the work of Robert Bullivant of the Harry Weedon office.
As was usual with most Odeons, no organ was ever installed, although one manager claimed that there were chambers. Odeons with organs were very few and far between, as Oscar Deutsch looked upon them as very expensive, unnecessary luxuries, only to be installed when there was competition nearby. Of course, Mr Deutsch may have been worried by the magnificent George Coles Regal being constructed at the same time, only a short distance away. And that ended up without an organ as well! (But a nice 3 manual 12 rank Compton with an illuminated surround would have made the Regal the perfect cinema!)
Is this possibly the ‘Kettering’ as mentioned over the railway station announcements in “Brief Encounter?”. I never tire of that classic picture!