'The End' for Oxford city centre cinema

Steve Daniels The cinema is a giant red bricked building. The silver Odeon logo is above the entrance. A vertical sign is fixed higher up on the edge of the building.Steve Daniels
The Odeon is to be demolished and redeveloped as an aparthotel

The end credits are rolling for the last time at a cinema in Oxford.

The Odeon in George Street is to be demolished and redeveloped as an aparthotel with a community space on the ground floor.

Odeon said it was making way for the the £37m redevelopment "after years of making magical memories for generations of cinemagoers".

The listings for the cinema's last day include the Robbie Williams and Bob Dylan biopics Better Man and A Complete Unknown, and Pedro Almodóvar's The Room Next Door.

London-based property consultant Marick Real Estate has been appointed by Oxford City Council to develop the site.

The aparthotel will have about 145 rooms on the upper five floors. Aparthotels offer fully-furnished apartments with en-suite kitchens.

The council wants more hotels in Oxford to boost the city centre's economy.

Demolition is expected to take about three years.

Oxford City Council A modern building in place of the cinema. It still has red bricks but the increased number of windows give more of an impression of an apartment-type complex.Oxford City Council
The council wants more hotels in Oxford to boost the city centre's economy

Odeon's lease of the building ran out in September.

It said it had been "truly proud" to serve cinemagoers and "bring years of movie magic to the community".

It opened as the Ritz Cinema in 1936 operated by Union Cinemas, and went through several owners over the decades before becoming an Odeon in 2000.

It is the third Odeon to close in Oxfordshire, following Banbury and the 99-year-old Magdalen Road theatre.

The nearest Odeons are now in Aylesbury and Milton Keynes.

Other cinemas in Oxford are the Curzon, Phoenix Picturehouse, Ultimate Picture Palace, and the Vue at Ozone Leisure Park in Littlemore.