On this day – Horsham’s Odeon cinema opened

On October 7 1936 Horsham welcomed its latest cinema – the Odeon!

The Odeon was the 26th in a franchise run by Oscar Deutsch (hence the name – Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation).

Horsham’s Odeon opened with a showing of Little Lord Fauntleroy, along with music from the band of His Majesty’s Scots Guards.

Later on it was upgraded with a Cinemascope wide screen in the 1950s.

However, audiences started the tail off and it was sold to Classic Cinemas in 1967. The upstairs area was turned into two cinemas and the ground floor became a Mecca Bingo Club.

However, the writing was on the wall and in 1976 the cinemas were closed.

Bingo continued for a while but the building eventually lay empty and rather sad before it was demolished in November 1981.