The Odeon Leicester Square

Formerly - The Royal Panopticon of Science and Art / The Alhambra Theatre

The Odeon, Leicester Square - The Royal Panopticon of Science and Art - The Alhambra Theatre - Ernest Woodrow on the Alhambra Theatre - Demolition of the Alhambra - Other Leicester Square Theatres and Cinemas

Above - The Odeon Leicester Square in April 2014. The Cinema was built on the site of the former Royal Panopticon of Science and Art and The Alhambra Theatre - Photo M. L.

The Odeon, Leicester Square was constructed on the site of the former Alhambra Theatre and opened on the 2nd of November 1937 with the film 'The Prisoner of Zenda.'

The Cinema was designed by Harry Weedon and Andrew Mather with seating for 2,116 people, and is today Britain's largest single Screen Cinema, although it does also include a multiplex with four smaller screens in an attached building.

Right - The Exterior of the Odeon, Leicester Square when it first opened with 'The Prisoner of Zenda' in 1937 - From The Architects' Journal, 9th of November 1937.

The Architect's Journal reported on the new Odeon in their 9th of December 1937 edition, along with some of the images shown here, saying:- 'This cinema, erected on the site of the old Alhambra Theatre, was opened on November 2.

The site is almost rectangular, having an area of approximately 27,000 sq. ft. The cinema has a frontage of 100 ft. to Leicester Square, and a ten-storey block of shops and offices fronting Charing Cross Road.

The elevation to Leicester Square, shown right, is faced with black granite, some 200 slabs 6ft. by 5 ft. and 2 ins. in thickness being used. The canopy is bronze. The tower on the north side rises 120 ft. above pavement level and, in the upper part of the front, a large recess has been formed which holds movable illuminated signs.

The main entrance faces Leicester Square and a vestibule leads to a wide-panelled foyer, with the pay boxes arranged as part of the general design, the staircase to the balcony leading off from the northern side to the balcony foyer overlooking the Square and from which access to the lower balcony is obtained. Over the balcony foyer are offices, the telephone exchange, and a room for the B.B.C.

Left - The Entrance Foyer of the Odeon, Leicester Square when it first opened in 1937 - From The Architects' Journal, 9th of November 1937.

Seating accommodation is provided for 2,300 persons. The auditorium has one balcony of an unusually flat rake and, apart from large foyers and vestibule, a reception room for guests and press room with telephone room are provided; the staff apartments and toilets, shower baths, transformer room, vacuum cleaning chamber and stores are housed under the front portion of the building.

Under the stage there are the organ room, musicians' room, plenum and refrigerating plant, boiler room, and orchestra and organ console pit. The floor of the orchestra pit is constructed on a lift, so that it can be raised to the level of the stage and thus provide extra floor seating.

Right - Staircase Ballastrading at the Odeon, Leicester Square when it first opened in 1937 - From The Architects' Journal, 9th of November 1937.

The general construction of the cinema is of brick and steel. The balcony is supported on steel cantilevers on a deep transverse girder. The steppings of the balcony are constructed with filler joists and concrete on shaped expanded metal lathing.

The constructional flooring throughout the building is in filler joists and concrete. The external roof is of asbestos troughed sheeting supported on steel principals, from the bottom members of which fibrous plaster is hung to form the ceiling of the auditorium. The roof space thus formed serves as accommodation for the many ventilation ducts required.

Above - The Balcony Foyer of the Odeon, Leicester Square when it first opened in 1937 - From The Architects' Journal, 9th of November 1937.

The stairs are of concrete, faced with margins of marble and protected with metal ornamental balustrading. Between the margins carpet is laid. Carpet is the general floor covering in the building, and for this purpose the constructional floors have been overlaid with deal boarding fixed to wood battens filled in with concrete.

The stage is fully equipped for dramatic and music-hall entertainments as well as for films. Ample dressing-rooms, and scenery dock, property room, fly gallery, etc., are also provided. The design of the safety curtain is by Mr. Bainbridge Copnall. The dimmer machinery room and the ventilation extract chamber are above the foyers in the front part of the building. Ventilation is by plenum design, the inlets being arranged in the ceiling and extracts placed under the balcony steppings and also under the stall seats.

Above - The Auditorium, Stage, and Organ Console of the Odeon, Leicester Square when it first opened in 1937 - From The Architects' Journal, 9th of November 1937.

Associated Architects: Andrew Mather and Harry Weedon. Designer of safety curtain: Bainbridge Copnall.

Right - A Plan of the Odeon, Leicester Square - From The Architects' Journal, 9th of November 1937.

Sub-contractors Anselm Odling and Sons, Ltd., marble paving; Armstrong Cork Co., cork board to walls, floor and ceilings; Baxter, Geoffrey & Co., Ltd., drainage and drinking water supply; Brookes, Ltd., black granite; British Thomson-Houston, Ltd., Thyradon dimmer; Carron Co., sanitary fittings; Walter Cassey, Ltd., locks and ironmongery; James Clark & Co., glass wall linings, etc.; Central Perivale, Ltd., main entrance doors and frames; Cookes (Finsbury), Ltd., canopy, metal grilles and external decorative metal work; Dawnays, Ltd., steelwork; Decorative Crafts, Ltd., interior decoration; Samuel Elliott and Sons, doors to telephone booths; Garton and Thorne, iron gratings; J. W. Gray & Co., lightning conductors; Trussed Concrete Steel Co., expanded metal (Hy-rib); Hudson, Ltd., demolition; C. Isler & Co., Ltd., artesian well; G. J. Jackson & Co., Ltd., scale model; G. K. Jensen & Co., organ console, lift, etc.; J. A. King & Co., pavement lights; Kingsmill Metal Co., wrought iron gates; Knight & Co., fire curtain; Haywards, Ltd., roof lights; Sir Robert McAlpine & Co., Ltd., metal casements; Neon Luminations, Ltd., moving neon sign over entrance doors; Alfred Olby, Ltd., ventilating cowls; F. A. Norris & Co., iron staircases and cat ladders; Pearce Signs, Ltd., Odeon notice boards; Pugh Bros., Ltd., mirrors; Pyrene Co., Ltd., fire extinguishers; Self-Sentering Expanded Metal Co., metal reinforcements to auditorium floor; Shutter Contractors, Ltd., roller shutters to scene dock; Stablefords All-metal Screens, screen amplification; Sturtevant Engineering Co., vacuum cleaning plant; Tile Decorations, Ltd., tiling Twisted Reinforcement, Ltd., reinforcement to concrete slabs in auditorium; Troughton and Young, Ltd., electrical work and clocks; Universal Asbestos Co., asbestos tiles; Vacuum Refrigeration. Ltd., ventilation; Viger Bros., oak strip flooring and benches and shelving; White Allom, Ltd., interior decoration; burst Whites, Ltd., bricks; Marston Valley Brick Co., Ltd., Flettons.'

The above text in quotes (Edited) was first published in the Architect's Journal, 9th of December 1937.

Above - The Odeon Leicester Square in December 2008 - Photo M.L.

The Odeon, Leicester Square had first opened on the 2nd of November 1937 and was designed primarily as a Cinema but did have full Stage Facilities which have been used sporadically over the ensuing years.

Sadly in 1967 the Theatre was radically altered internally at a cost of £200,000 when almost all the original Art Deco Decorations, including the doors with their beautiful etched glass, were removed. The Theatre reopened on the 27th of December 1967 with Cliff Richard & The Shadows live on stage.

Right - The Odeon Leicester Square, decked out in a temporary red facade in April 2009 - Photo M.L.

In 1990 a new muiltiplex Cinema with five screens was constructed in an alleyway next door to the Theatre called the Odeon Mezzanine.

In 1998 a slight reprieve for the main Theatre's Auditorium was achieved when recreations of the original 'Flying Ladies' sculptures were reintroduced into the Auditorium.

In January 2018 the Theatre was closed for renovations and remodeling by Ellis Williams Architects. This involved removing the rear seating in the stalls so that new toilets and a large concession area could be installed in the now larger foyer. The Theatre's seating capacity was reduced to 794 in the process along with adding disabled spaces for 6 people. At this time the Theatre's original Safety Curtain was raised and fixed in the out position so it is unusable today. The Theatre reopened as the Odeon Luxe London, Leicester Square, on the 21st of December 2018 with a showing of the Film 'Mary Poppins Returns'.

The Odeon Mezzanine next door was also altered at the same time so that it now has 4 screens with a total capacity of just 116 people.

Today, the Odeon, Leicester Square is the venue for many Film Premiers.

You may like to visit the Theatre's own website here.

Shown Left is the cover of the copiously illustrated book 'The Lights of Leicester Square - The Golden Years of Cinema 1967 to 1976' by Felicity Fair Thompson, who was in Management at the Odeon, Leicester Square during this period and the first woman to be employed by the Rank Organisation on Front of House Management in the West End. The Book is available here.

Earlier Buildings on the Site

The Royal Panopticon of Science and Art

Above - An Engraving of the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art - From 'The Builder' Vol 9, December 1851.

The first building of entertainment on the site of the present Odeon Cinema was the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art, which opened on the 18th of March 1854 and closed just two years later in 1856. Some details on this building were published in The Builder of December 1851, saying:- 'The space on the east side of Leicester Square, long vacant, is now being covered with a building, as our readers have already heard, for the Panopticon of Science and Art, and in our present number we give a view and plan of the intended structure.

Above - A Plan of the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art - From 'The Builder' Vol 9, December 1851.

The objects which it is the intention of the council of this institution to carry out are principally the promotion of science and the useful arts, by the means of popular lectures, and the illustration of history and literature by pictorial views and representations, to be accompanied by music. In addition, however to these attractions, the Panopticon, it is said, is to afford the opportunity of observing, in all their varied ramifications, the industrial and mechanical arts, from the first state of the raw material up to the most highly-finished stage of perfection.

Right - An article on the proposed Panopticon - From 'The Builder' Vol 8, 1850.

The council propose to secure in all respects the most efficient auxiliaries, both as regard music and science; and the orchestral instrument which is now in process of construction by Messrs. Wm. Hill and Co., will. it is stated, be second to none in the metropolis, while the scientific apparatus will embrace among other novelties, a stupendous electrical machine, with a glut plate of 10 feet diameter, which it is proposed to work by means of a steam engine.

An important feature in the intended arrangements of the Institution is a plan whereby a great impediment to the success of Mechanics' Institutes, particularly in the country, may be removed: it has been found that the funds of such societies are seldom sufficient to procure the requisite apparatus for the illustration of their lectures, which are consequently divested of much of their interest, and in order to obviate this difficulty the council of the Panopticon propose to form a large collection of apparatus, suitable for lectures in every branch of natural and experimental science, which will be lent out on hire upon moderate terms.

Left - The Interior of the Panopticon in 1854 - From Old and New London Volume 3, 1887.

It is proposed to have two daily exhibitions, one in the morning devoted more especially to scientific information and research, while the evening entertainments will partake of a lighter and more amusing character.

Above - The Panopticon: Predecessor of the Alhambra - From 'Fifty years of a Londoner's Life' by H. G. Hibbert, Published in 1916 - Courtesy Alfred Mason.

The plan of the building, which was designed and is being carried out by Messrs. Finden and Lewis, comprehends a grand central hall, 97 feet diameter, domed over for the exhibitions of machinery, manufactures, works of art &c., and for exhibitions of various descriptions. There will be a lecture room, laboratory, &c. All the buildings are designed in the Saracenic style, after models and details, chiefly from the existing remains at Cairo. The contour of the dome is taken from a daguerreotype of a dome at Cairo. It will be formed of glue and iron on the ridge and furrow principle. The facade will he formed in cement.'

The above text in quotes was first published in the Builder - Volume 9 - December 1851.

Earlier Buildings on the Site

The Alhambra Theatre

See also: Ernest Woodrow on the Alhambra Theatre

Above - An early Postcard showing the Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square.

The Royal Panopticon of Science and Art had first opened on the 18th of March 1854 but was closed just two years later in 1856 for reconstruction as the new Alhambra Palace. The building was a conversion of the previous building which included installing a Circus Ring. The Alhambra Palace opened on the 3rd of April 1858.

In 1860 the building was again converted, this time into a Music Hall, by adding a proscenium arch and a stage, and opened as the Alhambra Palace Music Hall on the 10th of December 1860.

With a new license in 1871 the Theatre was able to produce Drama and reopened on the 24th of April that year as the Royal Alhambra Palace of Varieties. Many changes of name followed, the first being the Royal Alhambra Theatre on the 20th of May 1872. Other names were the Royal Alhambra Palace, the Alhambra Theatre, the Alhambra Theatre Royal, and the Theatre Royal Alhambra. The Theatre was further altered in 1881 and reopened on the 3rd of December that year as the Alhambra Theatre. This Theatre was destroyed by fire on the 7th of December 1882.

After a complete rebuild a new Theatre opened in its place on the 3rd of December 1883 as the Alhambra Theatre Royal with a production of 'The Golden Ring.'

The following year the building was renamed the Alhambra Theatre of Varieties and reopened as a Music Hall on the 18th of October 1884. A second entrance was built for the Theatre in Charing Cross Road in 1897.

Right - A Testimonial Matinee for Charles Morton at the Alhambra Theatre in March 1891 with Arthur Lloyd and all the big Music Hall Names of the day on the Bill - Click to see entire programme enlarged.

Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed at the Alhambra Theatre in 1886, 1891 and 1892. Also see this this programme for Arthur Lloyd at The Alhambra in 1886.

 

Above - A 1912 Entrance Token for the Alhambra Theatre which may have been an annual pass considering the lowness of the number - Courtesy Alan Judd.

The Alhambra Theatre finally closed its doors for the last time on the 1st of September 1936 and was subsequently demolished. A new Cinema with stage facilities, the Odeon, Leicester Square, arose in its place and opened on the 2nd of November 1937 with the film 'The Prisoner of Zenda.'

More details on the Alhambra Theatre from various articles follows.

The Alhambra by Charles Dickens's (Jr.) - From Dickens' Dictionary of London, 1879

Above - A Postcard showing the Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square and also to the left the Empire Theatre.

Alhambra Theatre, Leicester-square, originally the Panopticon, a rival institution to the Polytechnic, then altered into a music-hall, and finally licensed as a theatre.

Right - An Alhambra Programme for 1873. The cast includes Kate Santley and Rose Bell who were to have an extraordinary falling out in 1874 while appearing at the Alhambra - Courtesy Leon A. Perdoni. - Click to see entire programme.

Comic operas of the broader type are here given in English, the low comedy element being usually developed to the utmost extent. The specialty of the performance, however, is ballet and spectacle, in the mounting of which no expense is spared. The band is large and good. The house is spacious.

Above Left - An Alhambra programme for 1897 Courtesy John Moffatt - Click to see the entire programme.

All the best portion of the floor is allotted to stalls, which occupy a square space from the orchestra very nearly to the line of the boxes; the pit, which is not much more than a promenade, skirting it-on the three sides; an entrance being obtained through a recently constructed passage which passes along the right hand side of the promenade from the private box entrance.

Right - A Testimonial Matinee for Charles Morton at the Alhambra Theatre in March 1891 with Arthur Lloyd and all the big Music Hall Names of the day on the Bill - Click to see entire programme enlarged.

The pit and promenade run back under the box tiers, the lowest of which is occupied entirely with private boxes, having a separate entrance in the extreme southern corner of the façade. Above these comes the dress circle, which communicates with the large refreshment saloon, in which smoking is allowed.

Left - An original fan from the Alhambra Theatre given away free to members of the audience. Click to enlarge.

NEAREST Railway Stations, Charing Cross (Dist. & S.E.); Omnibus Routes, Regent-street, Piccadilly, St. Martin's-lane, Strand.

The above Article is from Charles Dickens's (Jr.), Dickens' Dictionary of London, 1879.

The Alhambra Theatre - From George Augustus Sala's 'Living London 1882'

Above - An Early 20th century postcard of Leicester Square showing the Empire Theatre (top left) and the Alhambra Theatre (far right).

'LONDON. The Alhambra Theatre destroyed by fire. No victims. That was the startling announcement which I read in the telegraphic intelligence of the Fanfulla. But, respected Fanfulla, many scores of victims must necessarily be made through the burning down of the great theatre in Leicester Square. It is towards Christmas-time that the ants behind the baize are most laboriously busy. Scene-painters and scene-shifters, stage carpenters and property men, supernumeraries, ballet-girls, and extras are all toiling and moilng night and day, with the intent of diverting you and your children at Christmas-time; and all for a little bit of bread. The burning down of a great theatre means not only the throwing out of employment of a great tribe of industrious and harmless folk, but the destruction of workmen's tools and the dresses of poor young women, and the spreading far and wide of misery and destitution.

Right - The charing Cross Road entrance to the Alhambra Theatre.

But there is no calling more thoroughly and spontaneously charitable than the theatrical one; and if there are any victims in purse through the burning of the Alhambra, they will be helped at once, I hope and believe.

The house has had a strange history. I mind it when it was a place with a Greek name, as Cobbett used to say of Exeter Hall - a Panopticon, or something of that kind, of Science and Art, started under illustrious auspices, which turned out a dead failure.

I mind it as a circus, under the lesseeship of the late indefatigable E. T. Smith, and as an arena for Mr. Rarey's exhibition of horse-taming every stage in which process is represented on a repousse vase more than two thousand years old, found in the tomb of one of the ancient Scythian kings, which is now in the Kertch Museum of the Palace of the Hermitage at St. Petersburg.

Left - A 1960s Office Building, Alhambra House, stands where the Alhambra Theatre's charing Cross road entrance once was. Photo M.L.

And I think that I once attended a revivalist service at the Alhambra. Its career as a Music Hall, and its disestablishment as such at the hands of the Middlesex magistrates, are matters of more recent history.

The above Article is From George Augustus Sala 'Living London' of 1882.

The Alhambra Theatre - From 'One of the Old Brigade' (Donald Shaw), London in the Sixties, 1908

Above - The Alhambra Theatre Frontage displaying Advertising for the Film 'Under a Texas Moon' in 1930 - From the Bioscope, 28th of May 1930.

The Royal Panopticon was intended to serve as an institute for scientific exhibitions and for promoting discoveries in the arts and manufacturing. When built on the east side of Leicester Square in the early 1850s, the Panopticon had a frontage of 104 feet with a Moorish style out of character with the neighborhood. The facility was opened in 1854, had limited financial success, and was sold in 1857 for conversion to the Alhambra Music Hall.

No place of amusement has passed through so many convulsions as the edifice now known as the Alhambra. Erected in the sixties, it began life as a species of polytechnic, where it was hoped that the instruction afforded by the contemplation of two electric batteries and a diving bell, in conjunction with the exhilarating air of the neighborhood, would attract sufficient audiences to meet rent and expenses; but the venture not having fulfilled the expectations of its youth, its portals were closed,and it next came into prominence during the Franco-German war.

Left - Variety Programme for the Alhambra Theatre December 26th 1911 - Courtesy John Moffatt.

Here "patriotic songs" were the piece de resistance, and towards 11 o'clock a dense throng waved flags and cheered and hooted indiscriminately the "Marseillaise," the "Wacht am Rhein" and everything and everybody. Jones, calmly smoking, would, without the slightest provocation, assault Brown, who was similarly innocently occupied, and who in turn resented the polite distinction. Stand-up fights took place nightly, and as was anticipated, drew all London to the Alhambra towards 11 o'clock.

These indiscriminate nightly riots attracted, as may be assumed, all the bullies and sharpers in London, amongst whom stands prominently the "Kangaroo", a gigantic black, who was known to everybody in the sixties. This ruffian, who was admittedly an expert pugilis, was the biggest coward that hovered round Piccadilly. No place was free from his unwelcome visits, and his ubiquity showed itself by his nightly appearance at the Pavilion, the Alhambra, the Cafe Riche, Barnes's, the "Pic", the Blue Posts, the Argyll, and Cremorne.

From such places as Evan's and Mott's he was absolutely barred, and the moral effect of the reception he would have received deterred him - in his wisdom - from making the attempt. His modus operandi was simplicity itself; seating himself at some inoffensive man's table, he helped himself to anything he might find within reach; if remonstrated with, he knocked the remonstrator down, and coolly walked out the room.

On other occasions he would demand money and if refused, applied the same remedy; if a party were seated at the Alhambra watching the performance, a black arm would suddenly appear over one's shoulder, and glass by glass was lifted and coolly drained. Occasionally he met his match, when, having pocketed his thrashing, he commenced afresh in an adjoining night-house.

Above Article is from 'One of the Old Brigade' (Donald Shaw), London in the Sixties, 1908.

Some Contemporary Ephemera for the Alhambra Theatre

Above - A Postcard showing the Alhambra Theatre Leicester Square, and also top left - The London Hippodrome.

Above - The Alhambra Theatre Auditorium from the Illustrated London News April 24th 1858

Above - The Front Cover and First Page of a Programme for 'Paquita' at the Alhambra Theatre on October the 12th 1908 showing both the Leicester Square and Charing Cross Road frontages of the Alhambra Theatre - Courtesy John Moffatt.

Above - The Charing Cross Road Entrance to the Alhambra - From The Building News and Engineering Journal of October 30th 1896. The accompanying text reads:- 'This building, now being erected in the Charing Cross-road, will shortly be completed. The ground floor will be used as entrances to the boxes and reserved fauteuils to the Alhambra Theatre, with additional scene-dock and stage entrance. The upper floors are reserved as boardroom and offices of the company. The style chosen by the directors is to harmonise with the present interior. The works are being carried out by Mr. Holloway, of Deptford, general contractor. Doulting stone is being used for the front. The whole of the works are being carried out under the personal superintendence of the architect, Mr. W. M. Brutton, 171, Queen Victoria-street. It is intended to shortly publish the interior designs for decorations to the corridor, vestibule, board-room, &c.'

Above - Howes and Cushing's American Circus at the Alhambra - From 'Fifty years of a Londoner's Life' by H. G. Hibbert, Published in 1916 - Courtesy Alfred Mason.

Above - A Double Page Advertisement for a Trade Showing of the 1917 20th Century Fox Silent Film 'The Heart of the Lion', staring William Farnum, at the Alhambra Theatre in 1918 - From The Bioscope, 21st of March 1918. This Film is considered lost as it was a casualty of the Fox Vault Fire of 1937 which destroyed most of their Silent Films from before 1932.

Above - A Programme for 'Ballets De Monte-Carlo' including 'Le Lac des Cynges', 'Carnaval', 'Aubade' and 'Prince Igor"' at the Alhambra Theatre for the week of June the 8th to the 13th, 1936 - Courtesy Dominic Holzapfel.

The Demolition of the Alhambra Theatre in 1936

Above - Members of the demolition crew standing on what was left of the stage of the Alhambra Theatre during the Theatre's dismantling in 1936 - Courtesy Andrea Taylor (nee Fellows) whose grandfather George Fellows is shown in the photograph and would later become the subject of a scandal involving a bracelet found on the site, more on this below.

The Alhambra Theatre closed its doors for the last time on the 1st of September 1936 and was subsequently demolished. A new Cinema with stage facilities, the Odeon, Leicester Square, was built on the site, and opened on the 2nd of November 1937 with the film 'The Prisoner of Zenda.'

Right - Demolition of the Alhambra Theatre in 1936 and the Odeon Cinema's construction in 1937 - From the archives of the Cinema Theatre Association.

During the demolition of the Alhambra Theatre one of the demolition crew found a gold and platinum bracelet under the floor of the circle of the Theatre.

Left - Harry Chandler and George Fellows - Courtesy Andrea Taylor (nee Fellows) whose grandfather was George Fellow.

George Fellows, who was 34 at the time, and Harry Chandler, 29, were subsequently charged with stealing the bracelet after they had shown it to a jeweler.

The case went to court and Fellows said that he had found the bracelet and given it to his baby as it didn't seem to have been of much value, but later decided to show it to a jeweler who subsequently phoned the police.

The men were charged at Kilburn Police Station and kept in custody for 8 hours. The case was eventually thrown out of Wilsdon Court and the men were acquitted because it was said that they couldn't reasonably have known who the original owner of the bracelet had been, or indeed have any way of finding them. The police had returned the bracelet to Fellows after no one had come forward to claim it after three months and Fellows had then sold it for £7.

Someone who claimed to be the bracelet's original owner contacted the police after seeing a report of the first hearing, saying he had lost it at the Theatre some years earlier but by this time the bracelet was long gone and has never been seen since although someone probably still owns it to this day and has no idea of its history.

The above information was gleaned from newspaper reports and details kindly sent in by George Fellows' Granddaughter Andrea Taylor.

Above - The Charing Cross Road Entrance of the Alhambra Theatre in 1936 - Note the Hudson's Demolition sign - From the archives of the Cinema Theatre Association.

Above - The Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square, during its demolition in 1936 - From the archives of the Cinema Theatre Association.

Above - The Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square, during its demolition in 1936 - From the archives of the Cinema Theatre Association.