Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Bradford Odeon.

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 04-27-2013, 01:35 PM:

I'm in Bradford at the moment. The Odeon is still covered in scaffolding, but the sheeting has been removed since December. Some work is being carried out on the roof, and I'm told the building has been sold, so it looks like the demolition is off. I don't know what the intended future use for the building is.

Posted by David Graham Rose (Member # 1450) on 04-27-2013, 01:43 PM:

Greetings Stephen

I heard last night that it was going to be turned into a Gentleman's Lap Dancing Club.

David.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-28-2013, 09:36 AM:

Wish I could be in Bradford at the moment! Snowed under with work, sadly, and unable to get away from it. Hope the Widescreen Weekend is going well.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 04-28-2013, 09:55 AM:

From a movie house to a cat house...
[Wink]

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 04-28-2013, 10:10 AM:

There seems to be some progress on her Scottish Sister (also opened under the New Victoria name before becoming an Odeon) who closed in 2003.

I seriously doubt the August 2013 opening date, only outline planning consent has been granted for the usage change (unlike the plans to construct Student housing where the flytower currently stands. No detailed plans have been submitted for the required changes to the building. The building is grade A listed. It will take (at least) a few months to get the consent through before any major work can take place (building a load bearing stage, installing disabled access, removing 1990 built procenium).

The proposed cost (of £250,000) seems to be far to low for the proposed plans.

source

quote:
Susan Boyle will be one of the first big name acts to perform at the refurbished Odeon under ambitious plans to reopen the mothballed venue for this year’s Edinburgh Festival.

SuBo is scheduled to sing at the Clerk Street venue on August 11, just nine days after the disused cinema is due to hold its grand relaunch.

The scheme to transform the site into an entertainment complex showcasing Las Vegas-inspired cabaret acts is being led by SuBo’s brother, Gerry Boyle.

The businessman said his sister would be performing songs from a yet-to-be-released fifth album.

The announcement came as champagne brand Laurent-Perrier confirmed it had held formal discussions to become a commercial partner in the venture for the next five years.

Glasgow-based catering company Braveheart Functions has committed to the project in growing signs the proposal is on track to become a reality.

Mr Boyle said he had reached an agreement with fellow entertainment guru Tony Jo that would result in acts being shared with Blackpool Opera House. Comedy is proposed to be a major part of the August relaunch, with acts such as Catchphrase star Roy Walker, English funnyman Stan Boardman and emerging talent Billy Hunter all billed as potential acts. Mr Boyle said: “Things are on schedule. The wonderful news is that Laurent-Perrier champagne have confirmed that they’re involved as well. It’s a commercial partnership. They’re going to come up to Edinburgh with a design team and invest in the structure of the building. In return, it goes without saying, that we will be retailing their champagne. We hope to begin refurbishing the building as early as May.”

Mr Boyle has claimed he can reopen the 1930s building, which will be renamed The Instant Arena, for a start-up cost of £250,000.

The first stage of the relaunch would involve restoring the upstairs art deco auditorium into a 600-seat theatre venue and creating a downstairs coffee lounge and a first-floor tearoom and champagne bar named after SuBo.

The entrepreneur’s firm, An Instant World, was granted a certificate of lawfulness by the council in January, allowing the Odeon to again host events.

Mr Boyle made his pitch to the Southside Association and assembled politicians on Tuesday night, flagging up opening hours for the venue from 9am to midnight, seven days a week

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 04-28-2013, 10:27 AM:

I was in Chester last week and saw that the Odeon is being refurbed as a community theater. There is an Interesting website with a photo slideshow of the building interior.

We are in London now but unfortunately our schedule does not allow for a trip to Bradford.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 04-28-2013, 07:15 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
Wish I could be in Bradford at the moment! Snowed under with work, sadly, and unable to get away from it. Hope the Widescreen Weekend is going well.

I'm very tired; it's been three days of thirteen hours, starting at 10 a.m. so far. There's one last film tomorrow,but that one is Gettysburg, which I think is about four hours. I'm travelling back to London on Tuesday, back at work for just one day on Wednesday, then at Microsoft in Reading on Thursday, work on Friday, then a long weekend due to the Bank holiday. It would have been better if I could have arranged for the Widescreen Weekend to have been at the start of my Twelve days up here rather than the end, but that wasn't possible as the neon course was on the 19th.

Strangely, since this year's weekend was for the 60th of Cinemascope, I think only one film, a new print of 'How to Marry a Millionaire' was on conventional 35mm film, everything else apart from some demonstration shorts this morning and the Cinerama breakdown reel, was on digital, 70 mm or 3-strip.

The opposition to film-originated material being shown at the weekend which was seen when 'How the West Was Won' was first shown in this form three of four years ago seems to have reduced considerably. It has to be said that some of the results which they have managed to achieve are remarkable given the condition of some of the surviving elements.

'The Great Escape' was shown in 4k; it looked considerably better than the poor 2k transfer which was shown a few years ago. 'The Guns of Naverone' didn't look bad, but I could still see digital artifacts in it, particularly where significant original film grain (ok, I shouldn't really call it grain with colour film) was visible.

Grant Wakefield's digital production 'Remnants' looked impressive, but it would have been interesting if it had been in 4k.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-29-2013, 03:09 PM:

quote: Rick Raskin
We are in London now but unfortunately our schedule does not allow for a trip to Bradford.

I'm probably going to be flamed for writing this, but here goes: the National Media Museum / Pictureville is the one and only reason why anyone in their right mind would want to go to Bradford. The rest of the city would make Mogadishu look like an upscale tourist destination. The north-east of England does have some wonderful things to offer: York and Durham for history, the Cleveland coast (Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay) for some spectacular seaside, the North York Moors for walking and scenery and the route along Hadrian's Wall for Roman and Dark Ages stuff (Vindolanda, Segedunum, Bede's World). It's all two hours by train or plane or 4-5 in a rental car from London. But Bradford ... ? Put it this way - a visitor to Britain putting Bradford at the top of their 'must visit' list would be like a visitor to Southern California heading straight to Barstow.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 04-29-2013, 04:20 PM:

There are some rather fine buildings in Bradford. It does seem to shut down rather early; the small fish and chip shop in the city centre seems to pack up at about 7 p.m., and it shuts at 5:30 p.m. on Sundays. The industrial museum is quite good, and various surrounding towns are part of a sort of 'Greater Bradford'. There's Salt's Mill at Saltaire, the the three-rise and five-rise staircase locks on the canal at Bingley, from Keighley the Worth Valley Ralway goes to Oxenhope, via Haworth for Bronte fans and Oakworth for Railway Children fans.

Apart from things in and around Bradford itself it has excellent transport connections for getting to other places. I don't drive, and so travel by bus and/or train. There are direct trains from Bradford to Leeds, York, Manchester, Blackpool, Ilkley and Skipton, and with one change you can add Carlisle, Lancaster, Morecambe etc. It's possible to do just about anywhere in the Northern half of the country as a day trip from Bradford. It also has the added advantage that rail tickets to many destinations are not impossibly expensive for ones valid at any time, unlike those from London.

There are some pretty run down areas of Bradford, but that seems to go for just about any city. I rather like the place.

If you want something with no architectural merit at all try Heysham one power station, the one on the right in the picture.

This is just a couple of miles from Morecambe with it's rather fine Midland Hotel, now restored and re-opened, and Winter Gardens Theatre, now being restored, and open for occasional use. Morcambe is another place like Bradford which fell upon hard times when its traditional industry went into decline.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 04-30-2013, 04:48 PM:

The local council was offered the chance to buy the building for £1 <source> and the was talk of turning her into a live music venue

There are not currently any recent planning applications for the site lodged with the local council other than temporary advertising on the scaffolding.

English Heritage state that they don't intend to list the building.

~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately in recent years Odeon has been erasing (or abandoning) most of its heritage. The 1930s supercinemas are now few in number being replaced by bland multiplexes (miniplexes in some cases).

Posted by Allan Young (Member # 6332) on 05-01-2013, 05:18 AM:

quote: Stephen Furley
Apart from things in and around Bradford itself it has excellent transport connections for getting to other places.

So one of the good aspects of Bradford is that it's easy to get the hell out of town ?

Sorry, but I have to agree with Leo. Bradford is a giant toilet.

Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 05-01-2013, 02:27 PM:

Interesting to see the Chester Odeon is being converted. I have very fond memories of the cinema before it was tripled.

I lived in Chester as a young boy from 1964 to 1969 and remember my dad contacting the manager of the Odeon and requesting a visit to the projection box. It was a fabulous experience for me and my first visit behind the scenes - with life changing effects. As a young lad of 10 or 11, I was hooked from then on!

I often wonder about the young projectionist who showed us around on that summer evening. My dad, sadly, is long gone.

Future visits by young people to projection booths (if they still exist) will be somewhat less dramatic I think!

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 05-01-2013, 11:10 PM:

I remember being very impressed by the glass bulb mercury arc rectifiers on my first visit to a cinema, in 1963.