Art Deco beauty during cinema’s heyday

Over the years, Ashford has had its fair share of picture houses and cinemas to choose from, but gradually with trends changing, many of the film venues of the past have disappeared without trace.

Many residents will remember places such as The Picture Palace in Tufton Street which disappeared in 1962 and The Cinema in Beaver Road which went in 1992, but radical change over the years has left the town with just one cinema – the popular Cineworld at Eureka Park which has provided the modern equivalent in cinematography A splendid view showing the main entrance of the Odeon Cinema, Ashford in 1936 since the late 1990s.

But back in 1936, the much loved chain Odeon opened a new cinema in Ashford’s Lower High Street.

Odeon is a name synonymous with the best in cinema over the decades, and the town was lucky enough to house a splendid art deco cinema for 40 years.

The town’s filmgoers were dismayed when it became a Top Rank Bingo Hall in 1976. Happily, when the new Elwick Place development on the former Ashford Market is completed, the town will once again have more than one cinema. An exciting new multiscreen venue is being built alongside new restaurants and a hotel on the site.

This week’s Remember When looks at a rare trio of pictures taken of the new Odeon Cinema in the High Street in 1936.

Do you have you any photographs or slides that you would be willing to lend me, to be scanned and featured in the Kentish Express?

Write to me: Steve Salter, Kentish Express Remember When, Unit 4, Park Mall Shopping Centre, Ashford TN24 8RY, email me at rememberwhen_kmash@ hotmail.co.uk, or find me on Twitter @SteveKMAshford.

Or you can also leave a telephone message for me with brief details by calling 01233 623232.

Please supply a return address for the return of originals.