Odd Hour Cinema
92 Upper Parliament Street,
Nottingham,
NG1 6LF
92 Upper Parliament Street,
Nottingham,
NG1 6LF
1 person
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Additional Info
Architects: Alfred John Thraves
Previous Names: Parliament Picture Palace, British Cinema, Regal Super Cinema, News House, News Theatre
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Opened on 23rd March 1914 with 600 seats as the Parliament Picture Palace. The main entrance was on Upper Parliament Street, but there was secondary entrance on Wollaton Street. In 1931 it was renamed the British Cinema until in 1933 when it became the Regal Super Cinema in 1935. It was equipped with a British Talking Pictures(BTP) sound system. From 6th July 1936 it was the News House and from 1941 it was re-named News Theatre. It was re-named the Odd Hour Cinema on 30th June 1956.
It was closed April 1957 and sold off for redevelopment following the death of the owner and demolished in 1959. As its name suggests, it ran news, shorts and cartoons for most of its lifespan.
Contributed by
grimbling
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Did it only operate at odd hours?
“Did it only operate at odd hours?” – I have always assumed the name was a reference to being the place to go if you had an odd hour and wanted something to do.
From the Kinematograph Year Book; it was named ‘Parliament Picture Palace’ until 1933. In 1935 it was the ‘Regal’. From 1936 to 1942 it was the ‘News House’ and from 1944 it was the ‘News Theatre’. Despite its impressive frontage it was a small cinema with a 20ft proscenium, reduced to 16ft by 1945. As the Regal it had 550 seats. This was reduced to 300-303 seats from 1936.
According to Wikipedia, Alfred J Thraves designed the Regal Cinema, Parliament Street, Nottingham 1935.
Opened July 10th, 1935 as the News House. Grand opening ad posted.
It was called the News theatre in 1941 as I have a news article from March 1 1941
According to The Ideal Kinema & Studio, Vol. III No. 32 (18th July, 1935), proprietors of the News House were Nottingham News House Ltd., of which H. C. Carlton is managing director.
Alfred J. Thraves FRIBA of Nottingham was the architect. 300 seats with an ultra-modern interior. Nothing of the Regal’s interior remains, the front has been entirely reconstructed.
Article uploaded, the interior must have been quite a surprise to patrons, as the façade was still very much as originally built. The front referred to in the article was front of house (foyers etc) rather than the façade itself.