Odyssey Cinema

Odyssey Cinema is located at 166 London Road in St Albans. It was have started its history from 27 July 1908 and onwards. Odyssey Cinema is reported as the first cinema of Hertfordshire. It can accommodate up to 426 people, 210 in the main downstairs area in front and other 216 can sit on the balcony. It has indoor bars and small food court for visitors to enjoy movies with great food and drinks.

History of Odyssey Cinema:

(Photo: The Alpha Picture Palace in 1910)

Before it received by the name of Odyssey Cinema, it first came into being as the first independent art deco cinema in the 1900s. It was named as the Alpha Picture Palace, founded by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper. Arthur was the founder of Alpha Trading in 1904 and historians say that it was the same year he built the picture palace. However, others argue upon its inauguration in 1908, but let’s just keep it between 1904 to 1908. The Alpha Picture Palace was created for huge public and could accommodate up to 800 people at a time.

Sadly, Arthur sold its ownership in 1911 along with its studios to George Arthur Dawson. George changed the name from The Alpha Picture Palace to the Poly Picture Palace on April 20th, 1918 after the World War I.

A Fire to Remember:

(Photo: Fire Fighters Extinguishing the fire cause at The Regent Cinema in 1927)

The Poly Picture Palace was revamped in the 1920s with the addition of stalls area and extended seating arrangement for people (573 downstairs and 314 in the balcony). A dance hall was created in the basement for people who’d like to blend in with dancers to learn and dance. On October 2nd, 1926, The Polly Picture Palace was renamed to the Regent Cinema, there was no main reason behind its change, but the owners thought it would be better to go with Regent.

The Regent Cinema was severely damaged when a fire broke out on December 15th, 1927 in the morning. It burned most of its interior leaving nothing but the organ to survive. Upon investigation, it was found out that the fire was caused by a lit cigarette that someone left under the mat.

Rise from the Ashes:

(Photo: Inside View of the Capitol Interior in 1932)

After the fire, the cinema was losing its essence of movies, but the Capitol interior took over the place as it was expanding their cinema branches in London. The Capitol interior gained its rights for opening on December 3rd, 1931. Now the seating arrangement was even more expanded which could facilitate 452 people in the balcony followed by the introduction of a restaurant, and dressing rooms.

Major Developments of the Cinema:

Here’s a fast forward to Odyssey Cinema’s developmental history:

• Odeon St Albans – on January 1st, 1945, Capitol interior was replaced with Odeon Cinema particularly to ban the X rated films
• Golden Era – the 1950s is highlighted as the Golden Era of Odeon Cinema in St Albans, but it could not last long due to the invention of television.
• An Unwanted Decline – Everyone had television in their homes and people began to forget cinemas, the 60s and 70s are even worse than 50s regarding decline in attendance
• 80s Fall of Cinemas – People were thinking of getting rid of the cinemas entirely until 1984 when several campaigns with slogan ‘First Choice Odeon’ were launched to save the cinema in St Albans
• Closure of Cinema – on August 20th, 1995, Odeon Cinema was utterly shut down due to odd reasons
• The Odyssey Cinema – After a long time closed, Odeon was reopened on September 12th in 2010 by the name of Odyssey Cinema.