For generations, it was the place to go and see the very latest films.
As first the Regent, then the Gaumount, and eventually the Odeon, the famous site on Barker’s Pool was one of the city’s favourite cinemas.
The building site looks very different today. But people of a certain generation will even tell you how they queued for Star Wars, only to get turned away because the film was already a sell out.
Originally built in the 1920s as the Regent, the site was later changed to the Gaumount. But by the 1980s, it had been transformed into a mirrored frontage, while still operating as a cinema under the name of the Odeon.
We have put together a gallery showing how the site has changed over the years, with pictures taken both of the building’s frontage, and inside, from the foyers and the auditorium, where we saw some great films over the years.
Now the building is being transformed again – with a new frontage having just been fitted complete with ‘green’ walls.
Our pictures take you all the way from from the present day, looking back over the decades.
They are taken both from our archives, while some are courtesy of Picture Sheffield.
1. Sheffield's cinemas
As a new frontage goes onto the old site of the Odeon, the Gaumont and the Regent Cinema, we have put together a gallery of nostalgic pictures, showing both inside and outside of those popular landmark cinemas. Picture: National World / Picture Sheffield Photo: Submitted
2. Today
This picture shows how the former Gaumont site looks today, with a new frontage fitted as part of the Heart of the City Project, including a 'green wall'. Picture: David Kessen, National World Photo: David Kessen
3. Mirrored frontage
The frontage of the old Odeon, which replaced the Gaumont in the 1980s Photo: Lucy Ashton
4. Gaumont
The same view of the building, when it was the Gaumont. Photo: Picture Sheffield Photo: Picture Sheffield