The Odeon and Borough Hall, Stockton High Street

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t13486‘Down to the Sea in Ships’, starring Richard Widmark, Lionel Barrymore and Dean Stockwell was released in 1949 so it must be around that time?

The Odeon had quite a distinctive design and was built in the 1930s. The Borough Hall, by this time 160+ years old, looks to have seen better days and would last less than another 10 years.

Photograph and details courtesy of Jonathan May.

11 thoughts on “The Odeon and Borough Hall, Stockton High Street”

  1. Remember the first time I went with my brother and sisters 49-50 the serial ended with tom mix òn his horse galloping along the railtrack being followed by a steam train which looked like it killed him, I was too scared to go the next weeķ in case it had.

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  2. The Odeon Cinema was vastly improved in 1955, when it reopened after it’s conversion to Cinemascope they showed the film ‘The Man From Laramie’, what sticks in my mind is the huge music speakers built into the walls left and right of the screen which when the film commenced boomed out the title song The Man From Laramie sung by Jimmy Young. This was an American Western film starring James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp, the film is about a stranger who defies a local cattle baron and his sadistic son by working for one of his rivals.The Man from Laramie was one of the first Westerns to be filmed in CinemaScope in order to capture the vastness of the scenery. CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 (The Robe) to 1967, for shooting widescreen movies. Although the CinemaScope lens system was made obsolete primarily by Panavision, the CinemaScope format has continued to this day

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  3. Hello, have you any pictures of the old WH Smith shop circa 1972/3 closing to go to the new shopping centre, they would be very welcome.
    Thank you,

    Dr Alan Watson.

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  4. I remember the Regal Cinema being built in the 1930’s, Henry Wingfield played the tunes for many years on the Compton Organ which rose up from the ground until the movie started then would go back down with Henry playing his signature tune. Some years later the Cinema was renamed the Odeon with the Organ still in place playing popular tunes at the start and intervals.

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  5. The Borough Hall looks to be partly demolished already in this photo. Don’t think it would last another 10 years, surely not ?

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  6. It’s a strange juxtaposition of architectural styles which perhaps, if they had still remained in situ a little longer would have been Grade II historically listed. The Odeon is a fine example of Cinema Déco in the art-deco style of the 1920’s-30’s, even to the ziggurat-shaped sign. Yet another earlier example of this particular design-motif being The Globe at the other end of the High St . The Borough Hall’s facade, so symmetrically Georgian and dating from the late 18thC, I believe was originally a private residence before alterations took place to the main entrance and at the rear, for the building to then become a municipal gathering place in the early 19thC.

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  7. WENT TO THE SAT CLUB AT THE ODEON IN THE LATE 40 AND 50S .BUT FOR THE LIFE OF ME I CAN’T RECALL THE BOROUGH HALL .IT WAS 6 PENCE OLD MONEY TO GET IN .2 PENCE ON THE BUS TO GET THERE FROM COWPEN .WHEN WE GOT OUT WE WOULD GO OVER TO THE MARKET . SOMETIMES GOT A TOFFEE APPLE OR CRAB CLAWS [LEGS ]

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  8. I can remember the floor in the foyer still being finished the day before opening day.
    Later there was Geofrey? King? on The Mighty Compton Organ

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    • I remember going to the odeon every Saturday with my brother and sister. We called it the miners.

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