Monument record MWX361 - Odeon Cinema, Gloucester Street, Weymouth

A picture house opened on 2 June 1993. Converted from the Gloucester Garage, formerly a stables of Georgian date. The Odeon chain of cinemas came into existence in 1933 with the opening, in successive months from June onwards, of five cinemas in the south of England.

The Odeon circuit came into existence in 1933 with the opening, in successive months from June onwards, of five cinemas in the south of England. The Odeon Weymouth, which opened first, was originally to be called the Picture House but Oscar Deutsch decided that all theatres opening in the future would be named Odeon unless there was a governing reason for using another title. The Weymouth cinema was an adaptation of a former Georgian stables which had become the Gloucester Garage, a base for vehicles from the fleet of Rambler Motor Coaches, a company owned by George Spivey. He contributed the building and became a director of Picture House (Weymouth) Ltd along with Deutsch and George Elcock. The architect for the conversion was Harry Clayton. The Odeon Weymouth opened on 2 June 1933 and had a long, narrow, single-floor auditorium. It had an atmospheric decorative scheme by Allied Guilds of Birmingham which attempted to give the audience the impression of sitting outdoors. This scheme remained intact until the cinema was redecorated to a design by the wife of Oscar Deutsch, Lily, just before the war. The new design was predominantly green and cream which were the then house colours. In 1967 it was taken over by Classic and renamed Classic. Later renamed Cannon, it was taken over by Picturedrome Theatres in 1994 and renamed Picturedrome The cinema closed in October 1999. <1-2>

Record last edited

Dec 12 2022 12:28PM