This the last of the local history series on the Wembley Majestic by Tony Royden and Philip Grant. I would like to thank them for the guest articles that are clearly the result of a great deal of research and preserve another piece of Wembley history.
1.The Majestic
Cinema from Park Lane, early 1950s, with a carnival procession passing by.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the two previous instalments of our story, taking
us up to the cinema’s opening night on 11 January 1929. If you missed them,
“click” on these “links” for Part 1 and Part 2.
After all the hype and publicity behind Wembley’s new ‘super cinema’,
the Majestic finally opened its doors to the public on Saturday 12 January 1929
and the audience were treated to a one-day special programme: On the bill were
variety acts and two black-and-white, silent movies, with the headline feature
film, “Across the Atlantic”, starring Monty Blue and Edna Murphy - a 1928 US,
hour-long, romantic drama. With its first takings at the box office, the
Majestic was now up and running as a business.
2.The Majestic’s
advertisement from the “Wembley News”, 25 January 1929.
(Brent Archives – local newspaper microfilms)
From that day, the Majestic adopted a regular pattern of screening two
films a week: Monday to Wednesday (the first film) and Thursday to Saturday
(the second film), with Sunday being a day of rest, until the law was changed
in 1932. Often billed alongside the movies would be live variety acts,
performed on the Majestic’s stage and music played on the cinema’s Kinestra
organ (sometimes to accompany silent movies and other times solo pieces would
be performed in the interludes).
3.The Majestic’s
projection room and its equipment.
(“Kinematograph Weekly”, 17
January 1929 – image courtesy of the British
Library)
An article published in the “Kinematograph Weekly”, 17 January 1929,
stated: 'The Majestic embodies every principle of the best West End practice
and there can be few similar halls which will bear comparison with the
building, especially as regards the equipment of the projection box, which
should serve as an example of modern installation of this nature.' The
projection room was indeed something to be proud of, but no sooner had the
Majestic opened, a major transition in cinematic history was taking place.
In October 1927 the very first “part-talkie” movie “The Jazz Singer”
premiered in America – and it was an instant hit. The film screened at London’s
Piccadilly Theatre in September 1928 and in the same month, British Talking
Pictures Ltd (a newly formed company), had acquired a former British Empire Exhibition building
at Wembley Park, to open a film studio – later
claiming it to be the first fully equipped talking-picture studio in Europe. A
new era of ‘talking movies’ had arrived and although the Majestic had top class
film projectors, it would soon have to change and move with the times – an
added expense they didn’t see coming.
4.One of W.E.
Greenwood’s interior designs, in the Majestic Cinema’s auditorium, colourised.
(From the “Wembley News” supplement, 18 January
1929)
Other changes were also on the horizon: By the end of 1929, Wembley’s
Majestic Cinema had changed ownership from the original company of local
businessmen, led by R.H. Powis (a County Councillor and public works
contractor), to the ‘Majestic Theatres Corporation Ltd’, headed and chaired by
W.E. Greenwood – the highly acclaimed atmospheric interior designer of
Wembley’s Majestic cinema. The new company seemed to have legs and in December
1929, “The Bioscope” reported that a second “Majestic” cinema had opened in
Staines and that there would be a third “Majestic” opening in High Wycombe
(both with interior décor designed by Mr Greenwood) to add to the Wembley
“Majestic” which the new company now owned.
How did the two rival cinemas in Wembley respond to competition from the
new Majestic ‘super cinema’? The change in the style of the Majestic’s weekly
programme advertisements in 1933 was a sign that something was going on!
5.Majestic
Cinema programme adverts from the “Wembley News”, April and December 1933.
(Brent Archives – local
newspaper microfilms)
The Elite Cinema (with 1500 seats) located in Raglan Gardens (now Empire
Way), closed in March 1930 and, after internal reconstruction, reopened in May
1930 as the Capitol Cinema, increasing its capacity to 1637 seats. It was
refurbished again in 1933 and it was around this time that the Capitol and the
Majestic decided the best way forward for both businesses to prosper would be
to operate under one umbrella. It turned out that they were now both ultimately
owned by County Cinemas Ltd (though operated through a local subsidiary
company). The ownership change was publicly confirmed from July 1934, when
their weekly programmes were displayed in joint advertisements.
6.Majestic and
Capitol Cinema programme advert from the “Wembley News”, 5 July 1934.
(Brent Archives – local newspaper microfilms)
The Majestic’s other, and nearest, rival (as you can tell from the
aerial photograph below) was the smaller, privately-owned, Wembley Hall Cinema
– located at the corner of the High Road and Cecil Avenue. It was 1935 before
its proprietor, Miss Nora Thomson, decided to rebuild and modernise her cinema,
increasing the seating capacity from 560 to 1050. This may have been in
response to competition from the Majestic, or even from the rapidly-growing
Odeon chain that had opened cinemas in Kingsbury and Kenton in 1934, and had
plans to open another cinema even closer, in Allandale Avenue, Sudbury, in
1935. But with the film industry growing at an exponential rate, and on the
cusp of what was considered to be the ‘Golden Age of Cinema’ (with people
flocking to see their favourite movie stars and latest film releases), Miss
Thomson’s decision to expand may have simply been to reap the rewards of that.
7.Aerial
photograph showing part of Wembley High Road in 1938, with arrows showing the
two cinemas.
(Britain from Above, image EPW056263 – courtesy of
Historic England)
The outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 may have had a
profound impact on County Cinemas Ltd as (in the same month) it was sold to
Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Cinema chain. The Majestic managed to keep its name, and
both its cinema and ballroom played their part in helping to keep up the morale
of local civilians during the dark wartime years. But more changes were afoot,
when the Rank Organisation bought control of Odeon Cinemas following Deutsch’s
death in 1941. As for the Capitol Cinema in Empire Way, that too played its
part in the war effort when, in 1943, it was requisitioned to use as a shelter
for people displaced from their bomb-damaged homes – it was never to reopen as
a cinema again.
8.Two adverts for events at the Majestic in May 1943. (Brent Archives – local newspaper microfilms)
From the end of the war through to the mid-1950s, the film industry
experienced a period of prosperity, marked by a series of box office hits shown
at the Majestic from Paramount Pictures, whose Academy Award winning films
included "Sunset Boulevard", "The Greatest Show on Earth",
"Shane" and Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments".
9.Wembley High
Road in the early 1950s, with the Majestic Cinema on the right. (Colourised photograph)
In January 1956, after it was decided that the Majestic needed a more
modern feel, applications were submitted for new signage for the front of the
building: The café was to become the “STARS espresso bar and restaurant”, and a
large vertical illuminated “ODEON” sign was to be placed above the entrance
door. The Majestic’s name was formally changed to the Odeon in March 1956
(although local residents still referred to it as The Majestic!).
Meanwhile, the Wembley Hall Cinema, which had operated independently for
25 years under the ownership of Miss Nora Thomson, came to an end when Miss
Thomson retired and sold her cinema in February 1956. The cinema closed for two
weeks for rebranding and reopened on 25 March under the new name of “Gaumont”.
This should have rung alarm bells, as both the Odeon and Gaumont cinema chains
were owned by the Rank Organisation.
At that time, the Majestic’s future may have still looked bright,
especially when more illuminated signs appeared on the front of the building in
1957, advertising the “Victor Silvester Dance Studio” – this would have been a
huge draw. The famous Wembley-born ballroom dancer and band leader ran a chain of schools teaching ballroom dancing, and one of these
opened in the Majestic’s ballroom.
10.The Odeon
(former Majestic) Wembley, with signs for the Victor Silverster dance studio,
around 1960.
(Brent Archives – Wembley History Society
Collection – colourised version)
However, television had arrived and its popularity was rapidly growing.
By 1960, box office takings were on the decline and ‘The Golden Age of Cinema’
was coming to an end. During this period, Wembley had three cinemas, all in
close proximity to each other – the Majestic, the Gaumont and the Regal/ABC
(which had opened on Ealing Road, 8 February 1937). The market share wasn’t
enough to go around and so something had to give.
The Rank Organisation had probably been considering getting rid of one
of their two Wembley High Road cinemas for some time (especially as they had
already closed their Odeon cinema on Allandale Avenue, Sudbury, in October
1956). When a potential buyer came knocking with an offer for the much larger
of the two cinemas, located in a more desirable position for shopping, the
writing was on the wall for the Majestic.
On Thursday, May 25 1961, Wembley residents awoke to read a front-page
headline in the “Wembley Observer” that must have shaken them to the core. It
read: “Former Majestic closes on Saturday. WEMBLEY LOSES ITS ODEON CINEMA.” Inside,
instead of the usual programme advertisement, was an announcement from the
cinema itself stating: ’The management regret that this Theatre will be
closed as from Sunday, May 28th’.
11.The front-page
story in the “Wembley Observer”, 25 May 1961.
(Brent Archives – local newspaper microfilms)
12.The Odeon
programme advert from the “Wembley Observer”, 25 May 1961.
(Brent Archives – local
newspaper microfilms)
If the news wasn’t shocking enough, it was also announced that the dance
studio and restaurant had been told they must close on the same day. The
Observer further reported that the Rank Organisation had, that week, submitted
an outline planning application to build a supermarket on the cinema’s site. It was the end of an era – Wembley’s beloved Majestic/Odeon was to be no
more. Its wonderful stage curtain had fallen for the last time.
13.The Majestic
Cinema’s safety curtain - colourised.
(From the “Wembley News” supplement, 18 January
1929)
Out of the two cinemas on Wembley High Road, it was the Gaumont that
went on to fight another day. When the Majestic closed, the Rank Organisation
simultaneously rebranded the Gaumont to their more popularly known Odeon name,
and there it continued as the Wembley Odeon until it closed in January 1975.
(The building was used again from 1976 to 1981, as the Liberty Cinema, showing
Bollywood films, before it was finally demolished.)
14.The former
Wembley Hall Cinema, as the Gaumont (1956) and Wembley Odeon (1962).
(Images from the internet)
Only a third of a century after it was built, Wembley’s Majestic Cinema
was demolished. The building which replaced it opened as a C&A Modes
clothing shop in 1962. More recently, readers may also remember this as a
Wilkinson’s “Wilko” store, but that too has gone.
15.The 1960s building on the former Majestic Cinema site, from Park
Lane, June 2025.
Sadly, the Majestic Cinema and its name have long disappeared from our
High Road, but we hope that this short series of articles has helped you to
visualise the grandeur of Wembley’s own “super cinema” and in some way, helped
to preserve its memory. R.H. Powis, whose dream it was for local men to build
the Majestic for the enjoyment of local people, is also long gone. But in his
capacity as a public works contractor, his name has not entirely disappeared
from our local streets – if you keep your eyes peeled, you may just see it as
you stroll through the area!
16.An “R.H.
Powis – Wembley” manhole cover. (This one is in
Slough Lane, Kingsbury)
Tony Royden and Philip Grant.
