Bristol’s Odeon cinema in Broadmead will close on 11 February, with the new Odeon Luxe opening in nearby Cabot Circus the next day.
Built on the site of a Fry’s Chocolate factory, the Odeon Broadmead opened on 16th July 1938 with Deanna Durbin in Mad About Music in its one screen of almost 2,000 seats (see image above).
The building has a colourful history having survived bomb damage during the Second World War in 1940 and being the site of a murder. On 29 May 1946 the Odeon manager Robert Parrington Jackson was shot twice and killed in his office as a gun shot was played on screen during Rudyard Kipling’s The Light That Failed;. Once staff discovered Robert’s body, a message was put on the screen asking for a doctor to help.
The murder is unsolved although a man named Billy “The Fish” Fisher is said to have confessed to the killing on his deathbed. Robert was cremated and his ashes were scattered at Bristol’s Arnos Vale cemetary.
The ghost of Robert is reported to haunt screen 3 with staff reporting sightings of a mysterious figure. We’ve been in that screen several times and there is a funny atmosphere!
The cinema has shown many legendary movies over the years including South Pacific and The Sound of Music plus Rob Roy for a royal premiere in 1953.
The Odeon has also been refurbished several times, with new screens added and removed and part of the building handed over to retail stores, firstly Mothercare, then H&M and currently a Lidl supermarket.
Odeon Broadmead is closing to make way for the new Odeon Luxe cinema which opens down the road in Cabot Circus on 12 February 2026.
We are big fan of cinemas and it’s great to see a new one back in Cabot Circus after the closure of Showcase Cinema de Lux in 2023.
We will miss Odeon Broadmead though. There was something very exciting about walking into that art deco building and buy a ticket at the small booth before moving to the refreshments area to get some popcorn. It was like going back in time. We’ll even miss the sticky carpets!
Farewell Odeon Bristol Broadmead.
