Odeon Marble Arch

Hence, on 22 March 1964 it closed with The Long Ships, was demolished and replaced (the architect being T. P. Bennett and Son) by an office block and a new modern cinema, capable of playing the new widescreen formats.

The new cinema, built above Marble Arch tube station, required elaborate structural shock absorbers to prevent vibrations from the passing trains from disturbing the film projection.

It was not until 16 October 1967 that the new Odeon played its first 70mm roadshow presentation with the Royal World Premiere of Far from the Madding Crowd in the presence of Princess Margaret.

This was followed by the Royal World Premiere in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II on 12 December of Doctor Dolittle, also a 70mm roadshow presentation which ran until 9 October 1968.

On 21 December 1969 the Royal Charity UK Premiere of Hello Dolly took place in the presence of The Duke of Edinburgh and ran until August 1970 when it was followed by Cromwell.

By the early seventies the supply of 70mm roadshow films was drying up; the Odeon found itself playing ordinary 35mm releases including Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Herbie Rides Again, and 70mm presentations became few and far between.

A special screening in September 1996 of Richard Attenborough's Gandhi in 70mm and six-track magnetic sound marked the end of the Odeon as a single-screen cinema.

The closure and conversion had been mooted for several years, and public outcry at losing such a spectacular venue – most notably in the pages of the London weekly listings magazine Time Out, in which Hellboy screenwriter Peter Briggs played a vocal role – delayed the process on at least one occasion.