The entire building opened in 1928 as a cinema called the New Victoria and it later became an Odeon Cinema, which closed in 1992 with this part of the building staying unoccupied ever since.
The legendary nightclub Tokyo Jo’s also opened at the site in 1990, becoming a staple of Preston’s nightlife for 16 years. After it closed in 2006, new clubs Lava and Ignite then Evoque were opened in its place but the latter too shut down in 2020. A takeaway and bookmakers remained in place until a large fire struck in May 2022.
The Rigby Group, owners of the Odeon block since 2012, had hoped to demolish the frontages of all three buildings damaged in the blaze but Preston Council told them that the 1920s art deco facade of the old cinema should be preserved.
Tokyo Jo’s therefore vanished from the city centre in January this year, and only the neighbouring old Odeon cinema next door remains. As the owners decide what to do with the site, the barren land is currently functioning as a temporary car park.
An urban explorer from Leyland called Scrappy NW visited the site in September 2022 to capture the derelict scenes of the former club and cinema after the devasting fire but before January’s demolition – offering a last chance look inside for our readers.
Scrappy, whose real name is David, has been exploring since 2007 and in that time he has explored numerous sites in and around Preston. Find out more about David and take a look at his images below.
Why did Scrappy start urban exploring?
David took up photography in 2006 and says he got into urban exploring “by chance” when a lodger of his encouraged him to explore the old Whittingham Asylum a year later. Having enjoyed capturing the derelict scenes, David then found a community of urban explorers online.
David, a 41-year-old electrician, said: “Once you started looking you started seeing them everywhere, such as the old Odeon and St Joe's Orphanage in Preston, which most of the time nobody even knew they were there.
“It’s the unknown and I'm quite a nosy person it turns out, I like to know what's behind there, what's in there, what was the building used for?”
How did he feel visiting Tokyo Jo’s/the Odeon?
David said: “When you're walking down the high street in Preston - like I used to walk down there for many years before I started exploring - I never even knew there was a cinema there and it had all the seats in it, it had two screens, and it looked pretty much like what you'd think a cinema would look like abandoned, and it was amazing to climb in one day and find that.
“There was a bit of sadness, because it was a great building used for many, many things for many years and the decline of it meant it ended up getting into that state but then I also got annoyed that they were building another cinema in Preston when that was still there but then obviously that set on fire. It's not great that those buildings are left.”
What was the reaction like to his visit?
David says his pictures of Tokyo Jo’s and the cinema have led to him receiving many messages from people wishing to tell their stories.
He explained: “People who used to work there, people who used to go there… I've even had one person messaging me about the Odeon saying back when they were kids, one would pay to get in and then he’d go and open the windows in the toilets and all his friends would climb in to watch the film. Little stories like that people are telling you from their past, all because they saw a couple of photos of yours online that jogged their memory- I think it’s quite a nice thing myself.”
David added: “I hardly have any negative feedback from anything I do. If I can't get in, I don't get in, I'm not making an entrance or anything like that. Like the Odeon, originally I was climbing a drain pipe at the back and climbing through a window that nobody had ever really ever thought to do before.”
Has Scrappy visited anywhere else in Preston?
David has visited many locations in Preston, including St Joseph’s Orphanage which featured in a separate article last week but you can see more of his work on Flickr.
Explaining how he is always on the lookout for new picture opportunities in Preston, Scrappy said: “There's always places. I like to go up and wander around, just check to see if anything's changed anywhere, if a door’s rotted through or somebody else's smashed something.
“Times change and you see how things disappear, get forgotten about. It's like rediscovering a little bit of history that you don't always see.”
Take a look at the images from his Tokyo Jo’s and Odeon visit below:
