Southsea cinema cannibalised

A recent picture of the Festing Road/Albert Road junction at Southsea caught the attention of Dave Allen.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Jun 2017, 07:00 BST
Updated 19th Jun 2017, 12:41 BST
The junction of Festing and Albert roads, Southsea, in a picture taken during or before 1963 because of the trolleybus wires, but where is the Odeon cinema?The junction of Festing and Albert roads, Southsea, in a picture taken during or before 1963 because of the trolleybus wires, but where is the Odeon cinema?
The junction of Festing and Albert roads, Southsea, in a picture taken during or before 1963 because of the trolleybus wires, but where is the Odeon cinema?

He says: ‘I was born in Festing Road in 1949 and lived there until 1962, walking to Highland Road (now Craneswater) school around the corner from the Odeon.

‘Your suggestion that the entrance was set back is correct – it was very much on the corner rather than facing straight across Festing Road.

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‘The photo brings back many memories. The billiards/snooker hall at the top of the road was frequented by Pompey players after training. The café is still there and next to it in the photo is Churchill’s newsagents. In the 1980s I worked with Mrs Churchill at St Luke’s where we both taught.

‘When the Odeon closed in the 1980s I was a member of the Portsmouth Film & Video Co-operative and we built from scratch a decent independent cinema, The Rendezvous in the old Oddfellows Hall, Kingston Road, as a part of the Hornpipe Arts Centre. A lot of what we used, we were allowed to salvage from the old Odeon, Southsea, before it was knocked down.’

Related topics:SouthseaOdeon