Bradford cinema historian Colin Sutton has compiled his own online chronicle of The Odeon ’s 82-year history, built on the site of Whittaker’s Brewery as the New Victoria between 1928 and 1930.

The shape of the city centre was utterly different in those days, before the planning orthodoxy of zoning separated places of work, entertainment and living.

Theatres, factories, shops, houses, schools, chapels and churches, existed in the same vicinity. The advent of a huge new place of entertainment was a major event.

In January 1929, the T&A proudly declared: “Soon we shall watch a magnificent picture palace grow, as it were, out of the ruins to gladden the eye and brighten the neighbourhood.”

Nearly 500 Bradford workmen constructed it – two million bricks, a thousand tons of steel – in six months. Only another four months were needed to equip, supply and furnish the building which combined a cinema with 3,500 seats, a ballroom, restaurant and tea-room cafe. The cost was £250,000.

Sunbridge Road-based architect William Illingworth designed the building. Colin says the building he created was the “very latest in cinema construction and a striking example of what was to become an internationally acknowledged theatre/super cinema to rival the classical style of the great American movie theatres.

“Illingworth realised the importance of providing luxury throughout of the highest technical standard in making the New Victoria the complete centre of entertainment and, unique for its time, each area adaptable for multi-purpose usage.”

Mark Nicholson’s Picture House article about the history of the Odeon contains the following optimistic quote from Illingworth, who told the civic dignitaries at the opening: “I know I am voicing your opinion when I say that a citizen of Bradford has erected an everlasting landmark in his native city.”

The New Vic, as it became known, formally opened on Monday, September 22, 1930. The programme included a Mickey Mouse cartoon, a recital at the Wurlitzer organ, a variety show with dancers and a screening of Rookery Nook, a comedy starring Robertson Hare, Ralph Lynn and Tom Walls.

As a generation of Bradfordians know from personal experience, after the New Victoria became the Gaumont in1950 (the interior had a facelift in 1954); its 45ft deep stage hosted a variety of concerts by the world’s greatest stars.

In the early 1950s, from the United States came Billy Daniels with his song That Old Black Magic. The London Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski played there. Organist Arnold Loxam learned his craft there. The Italian operatic tenor Benjamino Gigli sang there – without requiring a microphone.

For the remainder of the1950s, Bill Haley and the Comets, Count Basie, Paul Anka, Frankie Laine and Buddy Holly sprinkled their own stardust on Bradford. Sixty years ago Bradford still had a wool textile empire that spanned the world, from Australia to Peru.

In the 1960s, The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, The Kinks, Shirley Bassey, Cilla Black, Little Richard, Del Shannon, Tom Jones, The Animals, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones thrilled audiences and irritated Bradford’s constabulary which had to police excited crowds of thousands. In his autobiography, Rolling Stones’ guitarist and songwriter Keith Richards remembers the late Brian Jones being pursued by enthusiastic girls up Bridge Street towards Wakefield Road.

When The Beatles first played the Gaumont on Saturday, February 2, 1963, they were bottom-of-the-bill support for the chart-topping teenager Helen Shapiro. For their third and final appearance on Friday, October 9, 1964 – John Lennon’s 24th birthday – they played two shows for £850.

Television impacted on cinema audiences. At the end of the 1960s, the Rank Organisation spent an estimated £370,000 restructuring the Gaumont, converting the single cinema into Odeon 1 (467 seats) and Odeon 2 (1,207 seats). A chunk of the building accommodated the 1,000-seat Top Rank Club for bingo. In 1988 a third screen was added. Odeon 3 seated 244.

With the development of out-of-town multiplex cinemas, in1994 Rank drew up plans to include three more screens at a projected cost of £750,000.

But in the summer of 1997 bingo ended at the Odeon, and in April 2000 the announcement came that the Odeon was to be replaced by a new 13-screen cinema at Thornbury .

The Odeon’s last picture show was on Sunday, July 2, 2000. As the T&A reported the following day, Norman Scurrah, who had been there at the first screening in 1930, was there at the last nearly 50 years later.

Odeon Uncovered is at Thornton ’s South Square Arts Centre from Saturday until September 30. Opening hours are noon to 3pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Mark Nicholson can be contacted on odeonbook@mail.com.