A former cinema turned DIY shop in Morecambe has been listed for its importance as a heritage building.
The former Odeon Cinema on the corner of Euston Road and Thornton Road, today the Homemakers First Stop hardware and bathroom supply shop, was Grade II listed by the government this week.
A building is listed when it is of special architectural or historic interest, considered to be of national importance and therefore worth protecting.
Every listed building is added to the National Heritage List for England, and Grade II makes up 92 per cent of all listed buildings.
Historic England describes the building as: "A cinema with attached shops (now all in retail use), opened in 1937, by William Calder Robson of Harry Weedon and Partners for Oscar Deutsch and the Odeon group of companies.
"Designed in a streamlined Moderne style, the striking exterior (mostly in brown brick) has complex massing including a slender round-ended tower with projecting flat roof and expressed high-level corridor.
"The circulation foyers are externally tiled in cream faience, with horizontal green stripes. The interior retains many original decorative finishes."
It was listed on April 17 2026.
The Twentieth Century Society, the national charity campaigning to save Britain’s modern architectural and design heritage, said: "The former Odeon Cinema in Morecambe (1937), now operating as a hardware and bathroom supply shop, has been Grade II listed by DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) following support from C20 Society.
"With a powerful urban presence that anchors the building as a gateway to the town, its striking and complex massing includes a slender round-ended tower, projecting flat roof and expressed high-level corridor.
"Though some external features have been boarded over or lost, the auditorium retains its proscenium arch with many original decorative finishes and characteristic Odeon style fixtures thought to remain, concealed by modern partitions, ceilings and floors.
"The Odeon company was formed in 1930 by Oscar Deutsch. Between 1936 and 1939 it opened 96 new cinemas in England, mostly in a distinctive Streamlined Moderne style influenced by German Expressionism, and usually with an exterior mixing brown brick with cream tiling.
"This ‘house style’ had been developed by Cecil Clavering and Robert Bullivant in the Birmingham architect’s firm of Harry Weedon and Partners, one of two firms which produced most of Odeon’s designs.
"Morecambe’s Odeon cinema was built in 1937, during a period of rapid expansion for the chain.
"The architect William Calder Robson designed seven Odeon’s for the practice Harry Weedon, three of which survive.
"Morecambe now joins Harrogate (1936) and Blackpool (1938-39) on the National Heritage List for England."
The Cinema Treasures website (cinematreasures.org) said: "The Odeon was opened on 2nd September 1937 with Sandy Powell in 'It’s a Grand Old World'. It had seating provided for 1,084 in the stalls and 476 in the circle.
"Taken over by the Classic Cinemas chain in December 1967, it was re-named Classic Cinema, and was closed on 28th February 1976 with Kenneth Williams in 'Carry On Behind'."
After the cinema closed, the building was for a time home to former England and Leeds United footballer Paul Madeley's DIY chain.
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