FORMER cinema workers toured Bradford's iconic Odeon building 18 years after the last screenings at the venue.

A group of ex-colleagues were invited into the landmark building ahead of the floors and dividing walls which created the cinemas screens and bingo hall being removed next month.

Developer Bradford Live, a not-for-profit organisation, is behind the transformation of the neglected building into a live entertainment and events venue, and a planning application was submitted earlier this month.

Internal demolition work to remove the 1960s additions to the building is to begin shortly, with the main refurbishment expected to start next summer. The venue itself, operated by the NEC Group is expected to open in 2020.

So it was with a great deal of excitement that a group of those that helped run the building as a cinema set foot inside the Odeon's walls again.

They were there at the invitation of Mark Nicholson, Odeon historian, and Lee Craven, of Bradford Live.

Linda Metcalfe, who worked at the Odeon for 18 years, told the Telegraph & Argus she had many happy memories, most notably meeting her husband-to-be there.

"I worked in the bingo side first in the snack bar, then moved over the cinema as a cashier. When people won big money on the bingo, they used to get a celebrity to present the cheque.

"There was Ken Dodd and all the soap opera actors at the time. Because I worked in the snack bar, it was my job to make sure the celebrity was looked after, so I used to put a buffet and drinks out in the manager's office."

Graham Bird, a former projectionist at the Odeon described how it had always been his ambition to work at the iconic Odeon and that he had finally realised his dream in 1992.

"I'd had a lifetime of coming here to see films. It was my ambition to work here, that's all I ever wanted to do."

Mr Bird added that senior screenings had been pioneered at Bradford in the 90s, before the firm rolled them out nationwide.

Earlier this month, the T&A revealed how the interior of the transformed former Odeon building should look with the publication of designs for the 1930s building and its reinvention as a live music venue.

The submission of the plans has brought the transformation of the iconic William Illingworth-designed building one step closer.

In stripping out the 1969 partitioning, the project will restore the main auditorium to its original size and shape.