Odeon Prestwich
14 Bury New Road,
Sedgley Park,
Prestwich,
M25 0LD
14 Bury New Road,
Sedgley Park,
Prestwich,
M25 0LD
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: J.F. Emery Circuit, Odeon Theatres Ltd., Rank Organisation
Architects: Charles Swain
Firms: Charles Swain & Partners
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Astoria Cinema
Nearby Theaters
Located in the Sedgley Park area of Prestwich, to the north of Manchester. The Astoria Cinema was opened on 3rd September 1931 by the J.F. Emery circuit. Seating was provided for 2,000 in stalls and circle levels. The proscenium was 60 feet wide, and variety acts were presented as part of the programme on the 26 feet deep stage. There were six dressing rooms. The Astoria Cinema also boasted a 150-seat café and a dance hall with a viewing balcony, both for the convenience of its patrons. It was taken over by the Oscar Deutsch chain of Odeon Theatres Ltd. on 18th September 1937 and renamed Odeon on 20th September 1937.
The Odeon Prestwich was closed by the Rank Organisation on 12th August 1961. It became the Lancastrian Bingo Club. By 2005 it had closed and the building had been demolished. A Lidl supermarket has been built on the site.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
I think this is the right photo… Its not very good..
It is the right photo. The view is Bury New Road on the south side of Sedgley Park, looking north. On the cinema site, the land dropped away from the road. I knew it only as a closed building. Patrons, walking in from the pavement, must have entered the building at the level of the lounges in the balcony void; and must have descended stairs to enter the stalls (yet the stalls side exits would have been at ground level). The auditorium is well back from the road, on the right of the photograph. The present (2015) Lidl supermarket site has been partially excavated; with its car park below the level of the road in the vicinity of the former cinema.
@ HJHill Thanks for taking the trouble… :o)
The Bioscope of 9 Sept 1931 has an article about the Astoria. Above the entrance foyer there was a café for 150. Below the entrance foyer, due to the fall of the land (or excavation of the of the sloping site) there was a ‘lofty’ ballroom with a spectators' balcony. We tend to forget the customer-apartheid maintained by cinemas and theatres (even those built in the 1930s). Customers for the cheap front stalls seats had to descend a long flight of concrete steps down the side of the building to a less glamorous entrance nearer the stage.