Diamond Banqueting Suite, the Old Odeon, Wolverhampton.
Reminder of bygone times.
Regulars will know that I can usually spot an old cinema from a mile off! This wasn’t too difficult to recognise. I came across this the first time we were in the city and I made a not to photograph if then. A good number of former cinemas in the Black Country have found new lives as banqueting suites. The style of this one – the tower in particular, very much gives away the fact that this is the old Odeon, Wolverhampton.
Opened on 11 September 1937, this is very classic Odeon style. Originally seating 1,940 in the stalls and balcony, it was later tripled in a manner typical of the brand by creating two small screens (96 and 111 seats) under the old balcony and a 622 seat screen in the former balcony. It closed on 4 June 1983. The tripling was removed and a Mecca Bingo hall created. This in turn closed in March 2007 (another victim of the no-smoking laws). Put up for sale, it became the Diamond Banqueting Suite two years later. It still retains many original features, become Grade II listed in October 2000.
More info and photographs:
Cinema Treasures
Wolverhampton History
Photograph Details:
- Taken: 8 May 2020
- Camera: Canon 5D MkIII
- Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm 1:4 L IS USM
- Focal Length 32mm
- F/7.1
- 1/200 sec
- ISO 100