The Full House

This Wetherspoon pub is the former Odeon cinema. The foundation stone for this well-known local landmark was laid by Lauren Bacall, in 1959. The cinema was officially opened the following August.

This Wetherspoon site, in Marlowes, has been a bingo hall since 1994, when the building closed its doors for the last time as the Odeon cinema. The name 'odeon' has its own special place in the history of cinema. It is a reminder of the 1920s and 1930s, when some cinemas were so grand that they were nicknamed 'picture palaces'. It was also the time when cinema chains took off. This growth is illustrated by the meteoric rise of the Odeon chain. The Odeon here in Hemel Hempstead was purpose-built much later, following on from the post-war development of the area.