Report - Odeon Cinema (aka. Regent Theatre) Westover Road, Bournemouth - July 2017

[crazyjonhere]

Hope you get to do next door before its to late

 

[Dave563]

Nicely done mate, love the old features behind the screen!

Have you got round to doing the Abc next doors?

 

[Speed]

Not yet. Its a fair trek for me unfortunately.

 

[UrbanFoxCub]

Sorry for the late posting of this, i had hoped to get back for a second look but ive had more important things to do lately!

This theatre is one of a pair on Westover road that i have been waiting to have a crack at for what seems like forever. The closure of this and the ABC next door has been on the cards for years due to Odeon (who owned both buildings) building a new multiplex in the town..

Cinema treasures provides a good overview of this history of this one..



Here's what it looked like originally, unfortunately the dome is long gone. The roof had been remodelled at some point and they must have just done away with it. As you will see however, all was not lost! Read the report and then come back to this picture to see what you can spot.

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The explore was a tad edgy. At first i thought it was unlikely i would get in, indeed the ABC next door looked more of a goer but before having a crack at that i thought id just check one thing and what do you know it worked! We were in here so long i never got time to try the ABC in the end.

Upon entering it was clear there was some kind of alarm system so the PIR dodging began. It was surprising how much you could see without having to go past one but eventually we did have to make a run past a couple and the alarm didn't sound so we assumed at the time it must have been deactivated.

We headed into the lower screens first.. i didn't even bother to look at the three built in the rear of the stalls as they were unlikely to contain anything old. The one built near the stage end however was quite interesting with the original stage still intact.

Each side of the stage a stairwell took you down into the basement where there were ventilation fans and boilers. Heading up there were a number of rooms containing assorted cinema crap but many doors were locked so there is probably more to see than what i have photos of.

Heading back to the lobby we found our way up to where the circle bar would have been. There was a small screen built here not long before the place closed.

Into the main screen. It was almost pitch black so i fumbled my way up to the projection booth and managed to fire up some illumination.

The projection booths were all pretty modernised and uninteresting but i did manage to find a few rooms containing old kit. I thought the shelving was interesting sprayed with the original address..

Back into the main screen and after a little bit more poking about i found what i had been looking for. The remains of the original theatres decor. The walls behind the screen still had the remains of hand painted murals and after a bit of climbing you could get right close up to the original proscenium arch. Note the PCT initials of the company that first ran the place.

After a couple of hours clambering about we decided to call it a night but were surprised to hear an alarm whaling as soon as we opened the door back into the circle bar area. Ive no idea if we had triggered it on the way in and it was just extremely slow to get going or if someone had been in and reset the thing while we were inside.. It all seemed a tad strange but we made legs and that was that.. id give it 7/10 but i think next door could be better. What you waiting for??

Yeah the place is fitted with a vacant building alarm the pirs have pin hole cameras that send 30 second images back to the alarm reciving center who then call the police to attend. Easy to deactivate if u have a master fob (found on previous explore)

 

[UrbanFoxCub]

yer you have to be careful which doors you try as alot are alarmed and apparently the security turn up in about 5/10 mins

Yeah vacant building alarm secca use fobs to turn it on and off i found one on a trip here and funnily enough it works on there alarms in otwhr buildings up and down the uk

 

[UrbanFoxCub]

Can this go NP? The chavs will get it in no time otherwise

Very much doubt that.. Happening considering the latest...

 

[Dave563]

Ah that’s a shame. I shall look forward to it when you do get around to doing it!

 

[pawncrackers]

@Speed Did I spot you in screen 1, running around behind the curtain on closing night? lol

Thank you SO much for sharing this. After months of asking management, permission for a tour, suddenly I was told 'no' and that was the end of it. Very happy that you managed it! This cinema means the world to me, and am on the fighting side to save it. Did you take any more behind the scenes pics?

The local paper was also kind enough to cover my 28 year history with the place, and even got a spot on the front page! (they chose the headline.. the comment was just in passing, but oh well, lol)

Best Regards,

L

 

[xexxa]

@cosmetic_chicken that would have been me you saw lol

 

[pawncrackers]

@xexxa Really? Ooooh, we need to chat in PMs !haha :P You get any good pics?

L

 

[UrbandonedTeam]

power?

 

[xexxa]

@xexxa Really? Ooooh, we need to chat in PMs !haha You get any good pics?

L

I remember seeing your article!

 

[pawncrackers]

Hey folks!

Hope all is well There is a new planning application on the Council's website. If you have any opinions, concerns or want to support saving the former Regent/Gaumont/Odeon building from demolition, please consider leaving a comment via the link below. The deadline is midnight of the 7th June.

https://planning.bournemouth.gov.uk/plandisp.aspx?recno=97916

The planning ref is 7-2019-891-AB. Thanks in advance for the support and consideration.

L

 

[jamesm251]

scouted this place forever, im a local and used to frequent the cinema, love to get in and have a look before its renovated

 

[crazyjonhere]

These two gems are doing the rounds again for the you tube explorers this week july 13th sadly everyone's getting in there their doing full on tours of both on one of the vids posted