Having been inside this building most of last Summer with my mates, I wasn't into taking pictures and recording then but now I am I thought I would give the Cinema a revisit. My fellow exploring partner @Smiffyboi uploaded a post on here last summer which received a lot of attention and is most likely the reason the entrance got boarded up. There has been no access since last summer but a month ago when I was doing my weekly check on the building to see if there is a way in I realised someone had made a tiny hole that I could just about fit through.
However, since editing this video and going back to record some more clips the entrance I had used has now been re-boarded back up so I was lucky enough to get inside and record a video.
History:
This was the first new cinema to be built for Rank after the war (others were completions of pre-war schemes) and it opened on February 1, 1960 with "Follow A Star".
It was designed by T. P. Bennett & Son and had 1,244 seats on a single floor in the stadium plan, with a stepped raised section at the rear instead of the normal overhanging balcony. The projection suite was suspended above the raised section of seating and had an almost level throw to the large screen.
In June 1987, it closed for tripling and the raised section at the rear was converted into two smaller cinemas whilst the front retained the original box and screen.
The Odeon was refurbished in 2001 and rebranded with the new Odeon style. This was despite the competition from a six-screen multiplex which opened back in 1990. Its future looked hopeful, however it was closed in August 2005. It was purchased days after closing by a local businessman, and the building still sits empty and unused in 2018.
(Source: Odeon Harlow in Harlow, GB - Cinema Treasures)
Anyway please see top of page for the video I produced with very little time in the Cinema
