The Leicester City Council marked this building project as an "Art deco restoration and conversion for events and conferencing", but to you and me it was the old Odeon cinema located opposite the new Curve Theatre.Originally this beautiful building was built for Oscar Deutsch's Odeon Theatres Ltd and was opened in 1938 with one screen seating 2182 people. Changes were made ni the 1970's so there were three screens, one being the main screen housing over a thousand people and two smaller screens holding just over a hundred.
In 1997 the building closed as the Odeon moved to new premises, it sat empty from 1997 until it was restored.
In 2005 the restoration of the building started, the restoration included returning the building back to its former glory as one single open room with a stage thus being perfect for shows, banquets and weddings under the brand Athena.
The Athena Venue is used for all manner of events, such as weddings, conference events, banquets, comedy shows, cirque du soleil and more. Many visit and use the functions of the Athena and attend the events available so this has turned out to be a successful regeneration and restoration of a beautiful art deco building in the heart of the cultural quarter.
I was unable to find financial costings on the renovations but inside and out the building looks stunning and I feel it must look and feel more like it did when it was first opened in 1938.
THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETED.
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