R.I.P Odeon Nottingham-The Death Of Cinema

Hello Folks,

Jonny T here with sad news that the Odeon Cinema in my home town of Nottingham has finally been given the OK for demolition and green light to be turned into a £35 million office block, now i know a lot of our readers obviously are not from Nottingham but I'm pretty sure you all have great memories of such similar great Cinema's being closed down and replaced elsewhere with huge multiplex's,The death of Cinema.

Now the photograph that you see above was taken by me the other day on my way to work and as you can see the "Danger Demolition" signs are now in place, The building was finally closed in 2001 and there was talks of restoring it and updating to digital projection and sound and even possibly an IMAX but within Nottingham we have a Cineworld in the centre and a Showcase on the outskirts so with them taking all the business it seem that Odeon thought it would not be a sound investment and that was that.

Upon seeing this the other day it brought back a ton of personal memories of such classic films i saw there such as Aliens, Cobra, Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Back to the Future and Pulp Fiction to name but a few.

Nottingham Odeon Screens 1 then and now

Screen 1 then...

 Screen 1 now.

Now when i say "The Death of Cinema" maybe I'm getting old (no comments please!) but going to the Cinema these days just doesn't feel the same and i know it's not going to be the same as when i was younger of course, The feeling of seeing a film such as Aliens in a few newspapers or magazines then catching  the Trailer on TV and wondering when it will be on, stealing the local newspaper off my mum and seeing that Aliens started on Friday and was being shown at screen Odeon 1 the biggest screen i was so damn excited!

Cinema today to me feels very formulaic, the way you Que around a pre formed rope barrier with the stink of a Subway and other fast food outlets ringing in your nostrils and no one talking just txting and often stand in the que as probably many of you do looking around and thinking "oh shit, i hope they are not going to see the same film as me!!" Then getting to the ticket desk to be served by a work experience Emo kid that customer service skills are zero, On to entering the cinema where you stake out the best seats in the dark and farthest away from a group of giggling teens with there faces lit up by mobile phones, oh the bloody mobile phones! Even though you have a 60 foot high dancing mobile phone on the screen saying "Please turn off your phone" this seems to have no effect at all!! And where is the lady with the torch pointing you to the seat and also more importantly what ever happened to the lady at the front with the tray of  raspberry ripple ice cream and Ki-ora orange? I hope she's enjoying retirement! But in saying that i have still obviously had the occasional great time at cinema of course, Seeing The Final Destination films in 3D and Pirhana 3D films were a great time, it just seems that if you have a BIG movie such as The Avengers you are guaranteed to get some people who don't give a shit about the movie or ruining for everyone else, Rant over!



I did have a Cineworld monthly pass wherein you pay £15 a month and go and see anything you like as many times and for a while it was great, with films such as Stakeland, Zombieland, Drag me to hell etc but it's now got to the point where if there is a new release it gets blasted on every available screen in both 2D and 3D so i cancelled, The main reason was that i am not totally averse to big boom bash crash Hollywood blockbusters but films such as i mentioned ended up just not being shown anymore or if they were it was only on say a Thursday at 10.30pm, There is a Cinema in Nottingham called The Broadway and it's great, my saviour! It does still show good stuff and is the only place now where i get to see the films i like, they have an upcoming horror festival for Halloween so Me, Emma and The Big Man will hopefully be attending that, so to round up it's not all doom and gloom just sad for me to see the final nail being banged in the coffin of the late truly great Odeon Nottingham, R.I.P and thanks for some great great times.

Jonny T.

Below if i have stuck some pictures i have found of the Odeon Nottingham

The Odeon over time....

Inside Today Derelict Odeon...