One of the original Oscar Deutsch chain of Odeon Theatres. The Portsmouth Odeon opened on 14th December 1936 with Sydney Howard in “Chick”. It was the largest and most expensive Andrew Mather designed Odeon of that year. Total seating was provided for 1,824, with 1,224 in stalls and 600 in balcony.
It has an impressive monolithic tower frontage in cream faience with vertical green bands and a roof of red Spanish tiles. The auditorium’s ornate decoration included tall murals on side walls depicting film subjects.
A two week closure from 10th September 1960 for modernisation, including installation of 70mm with new wide screen and proscenium in front of original. Then began a glorious period through the 1960’s of almost uninterrupted Roadshow presentations (with the Gaumont almost opposite taking the Rank first-run weekly release).
Tripling took place on 26th August 1973, with 573 seats in screen 1 (former balcony) and 132 in each of the mini-screens located in the rear stalls under the balcony. In 1990 a fourth screen was added in the former front stalls area and a new screen was installed in screen 1. Further refurbishment has taken place since then and the current seating is 1. 631, 2. 229, 3. 179, 4. 259.
In 2007 the Freehold on the building was sold by Odeon Theatres Ltd. and after a few false rumors of closure, the final performances were held on 10th January 2008. Demolition is possibly the final act, still to be played out…..but, in December 2008, the foyer was in use as a OJ’s Discount Store and by August 2013 was in use as a Sainsbury’s Local supermarket. The auditoriums remained unusued. Sainsbury’s have since departed from the former foyer and by 2023 it was a Polish grocery store named Minitka.
Well I was certainly late to the party here.... lots of people had explored this old place over the years, and I totally missed it first time round, having not rally spent all that much time in Portsmouth over the years. Work posted me out that way, and I must admit at first I hadn't even considered the Odeon as I assumed it was long long gone. As it turns out, over that ten years or so since it last cropped up on the forum the foyer had been converted into retail, leaving the auditorium festering behind it. One of our youtube pals had confirmed it was indeed still there and still explorable, so after completing the day's work and checking into the digs I set about having a pop at it.
Getting into the building itself wasn't all that difficult, but I remembered that the split of the stalls and circle had left getting upstairs challenging, especially as the foyer was now split from the main building. The downstairs / stalls area used to look rather interesting in the old photos as after closure in 2008 it filled with water quite quickly and there were some lovely photos of submerged seats. A decade of this same water however had left the stalls area a fetid hole of decaying upholstery and carpet, the water now a putrid black colour. I set about trying to get to the circle above. Eventually I managed to climb up the ironwork in the proscenium which led to the original balcony, still sporting it's original plasterwork.
Now the circle was much more like it. Original auditorium ceiling, plasterwork, proscenium and partitions. All be it all smothered in thick dark blue paint by this point. It looked to me to be a case of a budget makeover towards the end of the building's life. Despite this, it was good to see a proper Odeon with many of the features that can be seen in the images from opening night.
By the time I'd made access, figured out how to get upstairs, taken some photos and rummaged around to a suitable extent, it was time to leave. I never did get photos of the stalls screens, but to be honest, the rot had consumed the charm that had been evident in the photos from years ago.
I returned to the city a few months later, and was all geared up to take some better photos, and really probe behind the scenes to see what else could be found. What I found was the stage house had been peeled off the back and demolition was well under way. Undeterred, I now made a rather more simple route inside the building, and took advantage of the wall missing to be able to see the auditorium bathed in evening sunshine. Probably some of the last photos taken of the place as a month or so later the auditorium was completely demolished. Overall I was very happy to finally see it, just in the nick of time!
As it looked when first built.
Underwhelming projection room.
And upon finding the demolition, a view not usually seen!
Original balcony plasterwork.
It has an impressive monolithic tower frontage in cream faience with vertical green bands and a roof of red Spanish tiles. The auditorium’s ornate decoration included tall murals on side walls depicting film subjects.
A two week closure from 10th September 1960 for modernisation, including installation of 70mm with new wide screen and proscenium in front of original. Then began a glorious period through the 1960’s of almost uninterrupted Roadshow presentations (with the Gaumont almost opposite taking the Rank first-run weekly release).
Tripling took place on 26th August 1973, with 573 seats in screen 1 (former balcony) and 132 in each of the mini-screens located in the rear stalls under the balcony. In 1990 a fourth screen was added in the former front stalls area and a new screen was installed in screen 1. Further refurbishment has taken place since then and the current seating is 1. 631, 2. 229, 3. 179, 4. 259.
In 2007 the Freehold on the building was sold by Odeon Theatres Ltd. and after a few false rumors of closure, the final performances were held on 10th January 2008. Demolition is possibly the final act, still to be played out…..but, in December 2008, the foyer was in use as a OJ’s Discount Store and by August 2013 was in use as a Sainsbury’s Local supermarket. The auditoriums remained unusued. Sainsbury’s have since departed from the former foyer and by 2023 it was a Polish grocery store named Minitka.
Well I was certainly late to the party here.... lots of people had explored this old place over the years, and I totally missed it first time round, having not rally spent all that much time in Portsmouth over the years. Work posted me out that way, and I must admit at first I hadn't even considered the Odeon as I assumed it was long long gone. As it turns out, over that ten years or so since it last cropped up on the forum the foyer had been converted into retail, leaving the auditorium festering behind it. One of our youtube pals had confirmed it was indeed still there and still explorable, so after completing the day's work and checking into the digs I set about having a pop at it.
Getting into the building itself wasn't all that difficult, but I remembered that the split of the stalls and circle had left getting upstairs challenging, especially as the foyer was now split from the main building. The downstairs / stalls area used to look rather interesting in the old photos as after closure in 2008 it filled with water quite quickly and there were some lovely photos of submerged seats. A decade of this same water however had left the stalls area a fetid hole of decaying upholstery and carpet, the water now a putrid black colour. I set about trying to get to the circle above. Eventually I managed to climb up the ironwork in the proscenium which led to the original balcony, still sporting it's original plasterwork.
Now the circle was much more like it. Original auditorium ceiling, plasterwork, proscenium and partitions. All be it all smothered in thick dark blue paint by this point. It looked to me to be a case of a budget makeover towards the end of the building's life. Despite this, it was good to see a proper Odeon with many of the features that can be seen in the images from opening night.
By the time I'd made access, figured out how to get upstairs, taken some photos and rummaged around to a suitable extent, it was time to leave. I never did get photos of the stalls screens, but to be honest, the rot had consumed the charm that had been evident in the photos from years ago.
I returned to the city a few months later, and was all geared up to take some better photos, and really probe behind the scenes to see what else could be found. What I found was the stage house had been peeled off the back and demolition was well under way. Undeterred, I now made a rather more simple route inside the building, and took advantage of the wall missing to be able to see the auditorium bathed in evening sunshine. Probably some of the last photos taken of the place as a month or so later the auditorium was completely demolished. Overall I was very happy to finally see it, just in the nick of time!
As it looked when first built.
Underwhelming projection room.
And upon finding the demolition, a view not usually seen!
Original balcony plasterwork.
