Friars Cinema opened in 1933 for Oscar Deutsch's Odeon chain and was designed by Alfred and Vincent Burr. Due to a dance hall in the town already called The Odeon the cinema opened under the name of Friars. When renamed Odeon in 1938 protests forced the cinema to revert to the name of Friars until 1955 when it finally became the Odeon. The cinema closed in 1981 and was acquired, through a planning gain arrangement, by Canterbury City Council as a replacement for the original Marlowe Theatre in St Margaret's Street which closed in 1983. The building was converted to a cinema and concert hall and reopened in 1984. The old Odeon facade, with six tall first-floor windows above the entrance canopy, three balustraded panels below the cornice and a tall stepped parapet, was little altered. The foyer, too, is almost untouched. The auditorium is seated in two raked stages separated by a cross gangway, the new rake reaching the height of the former balcony. The new chandeliers can be lowered to form a 'light curtain' reducing the capacity from 993 to 600. The roof is now open to the auditorium and the stage house has been totally rebuilt with a proscenium opening. (1)

Historic England archive material: BF053077 Friars Cinema, The Friars, Canterbury

<1> 2000, The Theatres Trust Guide to British Theatres, 1750-1950 (Monograph). SKE55521.