Odeon (Bilston)

• Theatre ID
  838
• Built / Converted
  1921
• Dates of use
  • 1921 - 1964
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Bingo
• Address
  Lichfield Street, Bilston, West Midlands, England

Details

The Odeon opened in 1921 as Wood’s Palace, with full stage facilities. In 1937 it became an Odeon and was later used for wartime concerts. It closed as a cinema in 1964 and reopened the following year as a bingo hall. The two-storey frontage in Lichfield Street is now faced with faience incorporating two shops to the left. There is a tall fly tower and a three-storey dressing room block. The auditorium floor has been levelled with the stage. The decorative plasterwork to the ceiling is now entirely concealed by a false ceiling at circle front level. The walls have some traces of original decorative plasterwork. Although the stage house is generous for its day, any reversal of the alterations to reinstate live theatre use would be difficult and expensive. It is difficult to see such a building competing with Phipps’s Wolverhampton Grand (q.v.), only a few miles distant.

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• Other names
  Wood’s Palace, Palace, later: Cascades Bingo, Imperial Palace
• Events
  • 1921 - 1964 Use:
  • 1921 Design/Construction:
    • Hurley Robinson - Architect
  • 1921 Design/Construction:
    • Val Prince - Consultant: Interior Design
  • 1921 - 1971 Owner/Management: Messrs Wood, owners
  • 1936 Owner/Management: Cyril Joseph, lessee
  • 1937 Owner/Management: Oscar Deutsch, lessee
  • 1964 Owner/Management: Rank
  • 1971 Owner/Management: Hutchinson, owner
  • 1994 Owner/Management: Gala Clubs
  • 1994 Owner/Management: Cascade Bingo & Social Clubs
• Capacities
  • Original: 1400
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Stage type
  • Proscenium flat
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: Depth: 10m (32ft 6in)
  • Proscenium width: 9.15m (30ft)
  • Height to grid: c.14.3m (47ft) plus
  • Inside proscenium: 58ft
  • Orchestra pit: Original 20