Odeon High Wycombe
Castle Street,
High Wycombe,
HP13
Castle Street,
High Wycombe,
HP13
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: County Cinemas Ltd., Odeon Theatres Ltd., Rank Organisation
Architects: S.B. Pritlove
Styles: Atmospheric, Italian Renaissance
Previous Names: Majestic Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Opened as the Majestic Theatre, it was the third in a small independent circuit of five Majestic Theatres that opened in the outer London suburbs and South East England.
The Majestic Theatre, High Wycombe opened on 27th January 1930 with Billy Dove starring in “Careers” and was designed by architect S.B. Pritlove with an interior designed in a Venetian Atmospheric style by interior designer W.E. Greenwood (who was also a director of the operating company). The original seating capacity was for 1,480 and the cinema was equipped with a Compton 2Manual/5Rank organ and had a cafe and free car park.
It was taken over in 1932 by County Cinemas, who were themselves taken over in September 1939 by Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Theatres chain.
It was re-named Odeon from 7th August 1944 and continued until it closed on 25th January 1969 with the double bill “Carry On, Up The Kyber” and “King Kong Escapes”.
The Odeon was immediately demolished and a Woolworths store built on the site. The Compton organ was transferred to Quarrendon County Secondary School in Aylesbury.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
Two vintage exterior photographs from 1949 here:
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A side view here:
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My grandfather Cyril Chalk ran this when it was the Majestic with his wife Barbara Chalk, I recently found this article: High Wycombe, Majestic in Castle Street. This would later become the Odeon, and was very ornate inside with murals of mountainous countryside on the walls with turrets in the foreground. The enterprising manager, Mr Cyril Chalk, would arrange a display in an empty shop and have a fantastic display on the cinema itself to advertise the current screening, and was even seen driving round with a cardboard cutout of Mae West