Cinema licence application lodged for former Odeon

Plans to bring back a former city centre cinema have been submitted to a local authority.

The former Odeon on Magdalen Street in Oxford closed in 2023 - just seven months before its 100th anniversary.

A new licensing application to restore the cinema to its former glory has been submitted to Oxford City Council by a company called Roxy Movies (The Oxford Cinema) Limited.

Alejandro Miranda, a Spaniard who is based in Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, is listed by Companies House as the firm's director and lodged the application.

The company was incorporated last month.

According to the application, the prospective cinema - which is currently abandoned - would play films from 08:30 to 23:30, seven days a week.

The venue could host more than 700 people across its two screens, the application states.

A cafe in the foyer also features in the plans.

The Grade II listed building was built by renowned theatre constructors Frank Matcham & Company.

Its first showing was the silent film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on 1 January 1924.

The new application follows the closure of another Odeon cinema in George Street earlier this year.

Oxford currently has four cinemas dotted around the city; the Curzon in the Westgate shopping centre, the Phoenix in Jericho, Ultimate Picture Palace on Cowley Road and Vue in Grenoble Road.

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