Sudbury: Former Odeon cinema, Allendale Road

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 2 Jan 2010

Not knowing Sudbury I ventured down Allendale Road and thought I would take a photograph of the parade of shops. Looking for the best sun angle I went to the far end and spotted this building, which has been in use as a snooker club, and, despite the somewhat out of the way location, thought that it looked like a former cinema. Back home a Google search rapidly revealed that this was indeed the case and what's more is that there are comprehensive photographs of it in its hey-day on the English Heritage website. One of the photographs, taken in 1935, the year of its opening, reveals a magnificent semi-circular frontage set behind the current glass panelling here http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=107858&index=0&mainQuery=sudbury&searchType=all&form=basic&theme=&county=&district=&placeName= This shows the building from the opposite direction. However satellite imagery of the roof shows that the top of this facade is still in place. The cinema was "short-lived" according to another source on the internet, which, given its tucked-away location, is hardly surprising.

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