Last Friday, the first event for 25 years took place in Bradford’s former Odeon cinema. Now called Bradford Live in recognition that the venue will host live events rather than films, it can accommodate 3,800 people in a vast auditorium that will fill the gap for a medium-sized live music and events venue located between Leeds and Manchester.

Derelict since 2000 when the Odeon closed, it was purpose built in 1930 as the New Victoria during the golden age of cinema and was the third largest in Britain at the time and the first to be purpose-built for “talkies”. It could also host theatre on a large stage.

The building was a lavish affair with two distinctive turrets at each end of the curved front elevation with elaborate decorative plasterwork adorning the auditorium and other areas including a grand ballroom and 200-seat restaurant. In the 1950s and 60s the building hosted stars including Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. 

But as television displaced the cinema, he enormous auditorium became difficult to fill. So, in 1968, it was split into two smaller screens with a bingo hall underneath. In 2000 a new multiscreen Odeon opened on the eastern edge of Bradford, sealing the building’s fate.