Film / Features
Final credits get ready to roll at Bristol’s 88-year-old cinema
On a miserable Monday evening, I made my way up the stairs of Union Street’s Odeon for the very last time. Its facade has seen better days and its harsh blue LEDs made the ascent feel more nightclub than night at the pictures.
Nonetheless, I felt a twang of nostalgia at the thought of all of the cinephiles that have gathered here since 1938.
Odeon Union Street has been a functioning cinema since 1938 – photo: Cessie Hall-Eade
I was here to see one of the Union Street cinema’s last ever showings before its closure on Wednesday. With my £5 ticket in hand, I was ushered in by the cinema’s friendly staff.
There were sweets, drinks and popcorn on offer in the foyer, but no takers as I walked past.
The film I saw on Monday night was a psychological thriller, The Housemaid.
As someone with an embarrassingly low fear threshold, I was apprehensive as I made my way to screen three. Perhaps the eerie emptiness of the corridors with their low ceilings had a part to play in this.
For a grand finale, the cinema was pretty deserted with only six other audience members watching with me.
While this could be blamed on the fact that it was 5.30pm on a Monday, it still seemed a shame that this Bristol landmark was going out in such a feeble manner.
The cinema’s interior in its final days is a far cry from its previous marble design – photo: Cessie Hall-Eade
The announcement of Odeon’s closure may not come as a great sadness to many, especially considering it is being succeeded by the flashier Odeon Luxe in Cabot Circus due to open on Thursday.
However, this historic cinema on Union Street has been welcoming guests for 88 years and has seen multiple generations of Bristol families be entertained within its walls.
Many of us will have spent our childhood frequenting the Odeon after school or going on a first date here.
The cinema has also hosted some Hollywood stars over the years such as Sylvester Stallone and is also the location of Bristol’s oldest cold case murder.
While the Union Street Odeon feels a bit tired in its final days, with chipped wall paint and cracked ceiling boards, it was once a grand building with mosaic floors and marble pillars.
The art deco entrance, now a part of Lidl and previously Mothercare, stood majestically over Broadmead.
The Odeon and Mothercare in 1992 – photo: Len Gazzard
Despite Odeon not really leaving Bristol, the loss of such an old theatre raises questions about the changes to cinema in general.
Bristol’s big screen culture is alive and well, but the way we consume film has certainly changed. We are no longer greeted by staff in hats and blazers.
Newer cinemas lack the old-school charm that the Odeon on Union Street was holding onto with its blue tiles and low ceilings.
It isn’t yet clear what will happen to this prime city centre building, but hopefully its unique geometric walls will remain as a memory of the cinema’s rich history.
And while there are no longer the same marble pillars and mosaic floors that there once were, a nostalgic and bittersweet air lingered in the room as I watched Odeon’s lights dim for the last time on Union Street.
Main photo: Cessie Hall-Eade
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