THE death of rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry prompted fans to pay tribute and remember the night he played a gig in Bolton.

But it was not just Berry who appeared in the town.

The glory days for the art deco-style Odeon were the 1960s, when it played host to many legendary performers from Jimi Hendrix to Roy Orbison.

More than 2,600 people packed the theatre on its first night — August 21, 1937 — when the First Battalion of the Royal Scots struck up the opening music.

The audience on that occasion was treated to the Gaumont British Sound News, a cartoon, and three films, including the feature film, Dark Journey, starring Conrad Veidt and Vivien Leigh.

For the next 45 years, it was one of Bolton’s best-loved venues and hosted 1960s acts such as Engelbert Humperdinck, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cat Stevens, Roy Orbison, The Searchers, Dusty Springfield and Freddie and the Dreamers.

The performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was on April 14, 1967, the group’s first European tour, when Jimi played down the bill behind the likes of Humperdinck and The Walker Brothers.

Following interior rebuilding, its three screens showed thousands of films before it closed in January, 1983, when it was turned into a bingo hall amid protests from cinema-goers.

READ MORE: The night Chuck Berry rocked in the aisles of Bolton theatre

It was pulled down in early 2007.