Last picture show at Newcastle Odeon
THERE were heavy hearts across Tyneside in January this year when demolition work began on Newcastle Odeon.
Opened in 1931 as the Paramount, before becoming part of the Odeon chain in 1939, generations of North East folk flocked to the cinema on the city’s Pilgrim Street.
Like picture halls across the UK, the Odeon was forced to compete with the rise of television from the late 1950s, and the arrival of home video players after the early 1980s.
Come the new Millennium and the dawn of the competing multiplex cinema experience, the Pilgrim Street Odeon had sadly had its day.
On this day 15 years ago, the cinema showed its last ever film and closed its doors. A golden, vibrant era in Tyneside history had come to an end.
Peter Talbot had managed the cinema since 1976. He told the Chronicle in November 2002:
“The Odeon has always been THE cinema in Newcastle, with a certain glamour attached to it. It was the place where the stars came for premieres.
“People will have lots of good memories of this place, both customers and staff, stretching back years and years.
“In its heyday it was incredible, particularly for that era. It was in the height of the Depression, and we had a touch of Hollywood to cheer us up.
“People would get out their glad rags to go to the Paramount, and then
the Odeon as it was later known.”
If Mr Talbot was retiring after 40 years in the business, the 30 remaining full and part-time staff at the Pilgrim Street cinema were transferring to the new 12-screen Odeon multiplex at The Gate leisure complex on Newgate Street, Newcastle. It would change its name to the Empire and later Cineworld, ending the Odeon’s long association with the city.
For the next decade and a half, the Pilgrim Street building would lie forlorn and deserted, a sad, empty shell of its former self, as its future lay shrouded in uncertainty.
Then in October 2016, despite the concerted efforts of groups like the Northumberland and Newcastle Society to preserve the Art Deco building, it was announced it would be demolished to make way for a new retail and leisure complex.
Eighty-five years of memories would bite the dust, and Newcastle would lose another notable building.
But finally, as a footnote in Newcastle history, just what were the final films shown on the very last day of Newcastle Odeon?
For the record (or for anybody who runs a pub quiz) there were three.
They were James Bond and Die Another Day, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and the lesserremembered 28 Days Later, whose 8.25pm showing was the Odeon’s very last picture show.
A sad day...