Forum Topic

Cinema club at old Northfield Ave cinema?

For years I have wondered at the possibility of the old Odeon cinema on Northfield Ave re-opening up as cinema, particularly during the absence of a cinema in Ealing. I know this is highly unlikely but think that there may be some mileage in a cinema club opening (subject to permission from the Elim church). My thoughts are that it would perhaps show a film once or twice a month and show a kids film on Saturday morning and maybe an independent type film some other evening. The idea is to do something different from the Classic cinema club at the Town hall which has a very specific market. i would suggest that the beauty of this idea is that we have a dedicated resource on our doorstep that is not being fully utilised. The Elim church can benefit from the takings and perhaps more importantly reach out to the local community and perhaps sow the seeds for a few new recruits.I just wondered if there is anything in this idea - your thoughts?

Paul Martin ● 4675d13 Comments

Gerry Tan asked:Yes, a great loss was the Odeon Northfield Ave. As a matter of interest, what were the other cinemas in Ealing called?  And how many cinemas were there in Ealing?..........Greenford had two. The "Granada" which has become the Tesco Supermarket on Greenford Rd, and the "Playhouse" which was knocked down and became the site of the NCR Office block which used to house timeshare computers and has since become a residential block. This is behind the E3 bus stop leaving Greenford.I remember seeing Marx Bros films at the Playhousewhich probably means it wasn't affiliated to any maindistributor. It used to have a tortuous winding staircase leading to somewhere, I remember.Hanwell had one, "The Curzon" in Cherington Rdjust past the clock in Hanwell Braodway. This went out of business in the 60's or 70's, I'd guess.But the premises were partly taken over with the frontage intact by an electronics firm as I can remember taking a computer there to be repaired in the 1980's.As with the "Playhouse" and probably the "Curzon, the "Lido" in West Ealing wasn't affiliated to any of the big chains, ABC, Odeon, Granada or Gaumont. And so they could show more or less what they liked. In the 60's at least they had a well deserved reputation for showing X rated continental "art house" type films with the customary sub-titles and hanky-panky.  michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 4666d

The Ealing Hippodrome which later became the Palladium and which closed as a cinema in 1958 (now the site of WH Smith in Ealing Broadway).The West Ealing Kinema, latterly The Lido, lattery Studios 1 & 2, latterly the Star snooker club and now The Lido Centre.The façade of the wonderful Walpole is still in a car park on Mattock Lane.

Nigel Brooks ● 4666d

The "Avenue Theatre" which later became "The Odeon" Northfields was commissioned in 1931/2 by T B Percy, J D Percy  & H Usher, who'd already built the Walpole Cinema in Bond Street in 1912.This had been converted from the Walpole Hall skating rink built 4 years earlier in 1908.There's a nice series of photos of the Walpole Cinema under construction on the English Heritage Viewfinder sitehttp://tinyurl.com/k9l4rsjhttp://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=212493&index=84&mainQuery=Ealing&searchType=all&form=homeAlthough the official name was the "Avenue Theatre" it also became known as the "Spanish City Cinema". Or just the " Spanish City". Although this is cited as its popular name, to me it sounds more likely to have been dreamed up by the owners to use in publicity material to drum up businessBoth the "Walpole Cinema"  and the "Avenue Theatre" were sold to the Odeon chain in 1936. The Walpole then became the official Odeon film exhibitor in Ealing proper.Which in a way seems a strange move given the smallsize of the theatre and the fact that in retainingthe frontage they were stuck with the Walpole name.I'm no expert but possibly this sell-out isn'tunconnected with the fact that when the "Forum" opened with a Gracie Fields first run feature in 1934, two years earlier, the  official star studded opening was conducted by Jack Buchanan. A star of the day. Which suggests that the Forum had a tie in with a major  distributor unlike Messrs Percy and Usher. Which presumably was becoming increasingly important.For anyone who's intererested there's a 5 minute Patheshort covering the building of the Forum in 1934http://www.britishpathe.com/video/forum-theatre-ealingThere's also a series of films which is being repeatedon BBC4 on Thursday evenings, starting on Jun 27 at 20.30 called "London on Film".Although it hasn't been listed (yet) the 3rd filmin the series of three is "The Suburbs". And this againincludes film of the building of the "Forum", althoughits not actually identified in the modern day commentary, with more of the actual opening ceremony than is found on the Pathe film.michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 4666d

Yes, a great loss was the Odeon Northfield Ave. As a matter of interest, what were the other cinemas in Ealing called?  And how many cinemas were there in Ealing?

Gerry Tan ● 4666d

A sad loss was The Odeon, At least the wonderful space is being put to good use.The name, we were told when I worked for the Rank Organisation, was an acronym forOscarDeutschEntertainsOurNationThere is an interesting article on Theodore Komisarjevsky here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Komisarjevsky

Nigel Brooks ● 4666d

Pat Kingham wrote:I don't recall it ever being anything but the Odeon. But I do know that the interior is listed.  I don't know the name of the designer but he did a lot of Odeon cinemas and it's for this reason it's listed.------------------It changed to the "Coronet" in 1981 when Rank leased it to Sherman's, but then it closed within 4 yearsin 1985.It opened as the Avenue Theatre in 1932, the architectwas Cecil Massey, while the interior is attributed to Theodore Komisarjevsky who was also responsible for the Tooting Granada among others.It was leased to the Odeon* chain and renamed in 1936.*Name supposedly derived from its founder Oscar Deutschmichael adams

Michael Adams ● 4666d

It will not be the first church in the borough to allow showing of films, and depending on the internal layout could make a useful money spinner for the present occupants.It was the best cinema in Ealing visually and they often showed good films.

George Knox ● 4666d

I don't recall it ever being anything but the Odeon. But I do know that the interior is listed.  I don't know the name of the designer but he did a lot of Odeon cinemas and it's for this reason it's listed.

Pat Kingham ● 4667d

Excellent idea.  I remember this as the Coronet cinema.  People new to the area might not realise what a fabulous interior the building has.

Mark Percy ● 4667d

Saturday morning Cinema Childrens' Clubs were very exciting. My brothers and sisters were thrilled when the cavalry trumpet sounded in the distance and our hero on horseback arrived with the cavalry to rescue our heroine and her kids! We were so thrilled we shouted and cheered and almost wet ourselves!  Ah, happy days!

Gerry Tan ● 4667d

YES I THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA. I USED TO GO THERE FOR SATURDAY MORNING PICTURES WHEN I WAS A LAD

DENIS WILLIAM HAWKINS ● 4667d

Hi!My name is Corinne Cater I was the PR/Secretary of the Classic Cinema Club Ealing 2 month ago and would be interested in meeting you, I have in fact visited the Old Odeon Cinema which I think is a very good/interesting location, so please get in touch with me to speak about yr idea.Corinne

Corinne Cater ● 4668d

I used to go to the cinema in the 70s when I was a lad. I'm hoping to contact the Pastor of ECC next week (he's away this week) and will definitely feed back any further info. (You can see photos of the inside of ECC on their website  – http://ecc.org.uk/)PS. I usually tweet about the redevelopment of Ealing Cinema (see https://twitter.com/EalingCinema). The latest ETA on that opening is 2017 (although there are still a fair number of unknowns!) so an alternative venue could definitely help while away the next few years!

Alan Outten ● 4669d