This photograph of the Odeon was taken by Jack Marriott in the late sixties when ‘Thoroughly modern Millie’ starring Julie Andrews was the attraction. The Post Office can be seen next door.
Courtesy of Stockton Museum Service.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Picture Stockton Archive 
To the left of the Odeon, you can just see a sign advising that a ‘Crawfords’ cafe was being built. My Aunty Dot (Rutherford) worked in there in the late 70’s early 80’s and we would go in and get a cuppa on the house….
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Indeed the Odeon was Willie Waites” pitch, but after the main rush hour, Willie would drift off to Parliament street, then Joe would put a lad on the Odeon pitch. We woud scatter when Willie”s mam marched him back to the Odeon, a rather ferocious lady, not to be argued with! Apart from various seasonal ventures, Xmas paper etc, I remember Joe had a pikelets stall outside the Odeon on Saturdays. Another Paper seller was Johnny Thornton, his pitch was the whole south side of the high street, from the empire to the Yorkshire bank opposite the town hall. We also took papers with night racing results printed in the stop press on the bus to Norton Green, then ran back to stockton selling them in every pub along the way.
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Joe Turley”s pitch was next to the “0” bus rank to Norton at the Town Hall. He stood in front of a small metal fence. He started selling newspapers after leaving school as a 15 year old. He was at school with me at the Frederick Nattrass through the infants and Juniors. Joe spent his life in the High Street with his paper selling and selling from a suitcase, wrapping paper, stationary etc.
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JOE TURLEY SOLD HIS PAPERS OUTSIDE THE HAIRDRESSERS OUTSIDE WHAT IS NOW NEXT DOOR TO DEBENHAMS. HE NEVER TOOK OVER A FRANCHISE TO SELLING NEWSPAPERS, HE WENT INTO ERECTING STREET LAMPS THROUGHOUT THE TOWN.
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Thats right – Joe sold Gazettes opposite the town hall where the bench was, near the corner of Dovecot Street, that was his patch. Maybe Willie was on a holiday and Joe covered for him at Odeon.
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Joe Turley”s stand was on the corner of the High Street and Dovecote Street. When he wasn”t selling papers he would sell wrapping paper and other small goods. I believe he took over the franchise for all the papers sold in the Town Centre.
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Sorry to spoil your memmories but Joe Turley never sold papers outside the Odion, it was a man by the name of Willy Waites. Joe sold papers further up the High Street.
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In its days as the Regal and then as the Odeon, I used to meet a school friend from Thornaby around four o”clock each Saturday afternoon. We would join the ever present queue often waiting for a couple of hours before we got in and sometimes not even knowing what film was showing. We rarely saw a film from beginning to end more often middle to end and then stayed on to see the first half. We must have been mad.
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That will have been Joe Turley. I worked for him too. I sold gazettes outside the old Woolies in about 1963/4. I used to watch him play snooker in the old snooker hall for a hundred quid a game. I didnt dare move or cough. Stockton high street was a great place years ago, full of characters.
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I remember the Odeon was the newspaper pitch of a local character I knew only as Joe, he once asked me to mind the pitch while he went to get more “Gazettes”, there I am standing outside the Odeon selling papers in my Richard Hind uniform and a teacher comes to buy a paper. Boy did I cop it next day!
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My wifes uncle had an accident at work and broke his leg. After a check up at Stockton and Thornaby and still in plaster he got the bus from the Hospital in Bowesfield Lane and got off at the Odeon for the “0” bus to Norton. At that time the Odeon was being demolished and had the scaffolding erected in front of the building. As he was waiting in the queue a brick fell down the outside of the scaffolding and landed on his head causing concussion and splitting it open. The next thing was him being rushed back by ambulance to the Hospital for further treatment.
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On Sundays after visiting my gran in Thornaby, we used to get the bus to Fairfield from outside the Odeon. I sometimes needed to spend a penny and my mum would take me in to the Odeon. I once saw Cliff Richard when someone opened the doors inside. I think the visits to the ladies became a bit of a habit after that!
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