Film / News
Bristol cinema to close after 88 years
Ever since the announcement that a new Odeon Luxe will be opening in Cabot Circus, it has been an inevitability that the Odeon on Union Street would be shutting its doors.
The historic cinema’s closing date has now finally been revealed: February 11.
When its final credits do roll, it will mean the end of a picture palace which when it opened in 1938 had seating for 1000 cinemagoers in the stalls and 900 in the balcony.
The days of uniformed staff, marble pillars and mosaic floors are long gone.
Lidl (and before that, H&M and Mothercare) now takes up the Odeon’s former grand entrance, with the current way in up a flight of stairs dating back to 1985.
Odeon ticket prices are as low as £5 – photo: Mersina Booth
On May 26 1946, Odeon manager Robert Partington-Smith was shot and killed in his office, the real gun going off at exactly the same time as a gunshot in a screening of The Light That Failed.
The culprit has never been caught, making it Bristol’s oldest cold case murder.
The Odeon was built on the site of Fry’s chocolate factory – photo courtesy of Paul Townsend
An email from Odeon said: “We’re writing to let you know that ODEON Bristol will be closing on 11 February 2026.
“The good news is that ODEON Luxe Bristol will open its doors the very next day, on 12 February 2026, just a short distance away.”
Main photo: Milan Perera
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