Odeon Balham
Balham Hill and Malwood Road,
London,
SW12 9EA
Balham Hill and Malwood Road,
London,
SW12 9EA
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A staff member at the Majestic Wine Centre kindly produced several framed photos of the cinema interior when a CTA party dropped in on February 26th,2017 on their way to the Granada. The visit notes describe the location as South Clapham, not Balham.
I’ve just been researching the Odeon Cinema, Balham Hill, for my second book in the Evie Adams series (following #TimetoShine, which is set in Exeter). My grandmother owned the Freehold on the land the Odeon was built on, and when I used to take my sister to Saturday morning pictures (she was under age) precocious child that I was, I used to tell the ticket office that they had, therefore, to let her in. They always did :)
As the Liberty, this was one of the more successful Asian cinema operations, though ultimately killed off by the availability of “Bollywood” films on home video. It closed in 1980, not 1979, however, and had latterly been open at weekends only. The Mile End Liberty, another ex-Odeon, also closed in 1980. Ken Roe also states that it was bomb damaged in October 1940 when it lost the right hand of its frontage….this indeed occurred, but in May 1941, and not October 1940 as stated. The reference to the “G” being put in front of the former name ODEON, to form GODEON, did actually take place, though this was at what became the LIBERTY SOUTHALL, and not Balham as implied.
herewith some excellent ( and sad :>( ) pictures from a very talented and passionate cinema historian , who has spent ages scanning thousands of pictures in to share with us all ! Many thanks M.B !
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Here is a set of photos i took last weekend, the frontage still looks great apart from as usual with london cinemas, someone has planted a tree in front to hide it.
Little remains of the lobby just the front doors and some sexy curved plasterwork above them, but nothing else from what i could see
Click on the thumnails to open them to a larger size
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Some more photo’s here from the 1930’s
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enjoy
www.mawgrim.co.uk
go to Odeon Cavalcade and select B for Balham, et voila
best
kev p
In October 1940, the Odeon Balham was hit by a bomb which destroyed the entire right side of the front of the building. Luckily the auditorium was undamaged and after a clear up, the cinema opened for business as normal. Looking at a photo of the Odeon taken at the time, I would say that if it were to happen today, the cinema would never be allowed to open in the state it was in.
The destroyed right hand side of the front of the Odeon was re-built to its original design when the war was over and can still be seen today as the facade to residential use that has now been built on the site of the auditorium.