My final trip to Kettering's Odeon as cinema closes for good

The confirmation of the closure of Kettering’s Odeon last year was a surprise to many, and after its demolition being approved in December 2024, many have been counting down the days before its imminent departure from the town.

Oscar season is in full swing, which is often a golden opportunity to see one of the many films I missed through the year. Screenings for flicks such as Conclave, The Brutalist, and Emilia Perez have been hard to come by in any cinema, however the Bob Dylan biopic, aptly named A Complete Unknown, was being shown until the very end of the cinema’s time in Kettering, so myself and a friend eagerly booked a ticket.

Staff were great, as they have always been. The last few visits when its closure was confirmed had a very relaxed atmosphere, which meant it never felt as though you were being shepherded through to the screen before you were ready. Until the end, it was a nice place to be, even before finding your seat.

Walking up the stairs to screen 5 was a strange experience, as the corridor is always lined with posters for upcoming films. This time was no different, but walking past knowing the cinema will be long closed before any release in the UK was a sad reminder of the asset the town is losing.

We sat down, the trailers rolled past, and Timothee Chalamet’s Bob Dylan and Edward Norton’s Pete Seeger kept us entertained for its 140-minute runtime.

The film is great. It’s a well acted, beautifully edited account of Dylan’s rise to fame, and eventual push for artistic freedom, all leading to the infamous 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

23 years ago, however, my taste in films wasn’t so refined, and my first trip to the Kettering Odeon (or indeed any cinema) was to see the hottest film of the summer: Scooby Doo: The Movie. At five years old it was an experience like no other, with a screen seemingly a thousand-times the size of our old CRT TV, and sound quality to rival any sports stadium. The magic wasn’t lost on me on that day in 2002, and the excitement of coming through the doors each time was ever-present until my last trip.

Kettering’s Odeon is where I fell in love with films, and I’ll miss it. Passing back through the front door for the final time, I almost forgot that it was closing, as I was too wrapped up in talking about the film to notice it would be my last opportunity. A fitting conclusion to a cinema that had done the very same thing for everyone since it opened in 1997.

After its closure on January 28, a message on the company’s website simply read: “Odeon Kettering is now closed.

"After years of making magical memories for generations of cinemagoers, we’re sorry to announce that our cinema is now closed.

“We’ve been truly proud to serve our guests at Odeon Kettering and to bring years of movie magic to the community.”

Ultimately, it was just an Odeon – there are currently over 100 in the UK – but while it may have been just another cinema to many, to locals it was a point of access to Hollywood, and a blissful break from the mundane as we’re whisked away to the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean, a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars, or to unknown horizons in Interstellar.

Cineworld in Rushden Lakes or The Savoy in Corby are operating as usual, and those closer to Northampton will soon have access to an Odeon as the company moves into a unit in Sixfields, so there’s ample opportunity to catch up on the latest film releases, but the Odeon’s closure in undeniably a huge loss for the town’s entertainment offerings, and one that I’ll lament for a while.

For better or worse, it seems the times really are a-changin’.