THE former Odeon cinema, in London Road, in Liverpool city centre, is being marketed for sale by property agents.

Knight Frank has been appointed by development company, Parkmoor, to dispose of the building, which dates back to 1934.

The site is close to Lime Street Station and would lend itself to a variety of uses including hotel, student accommodation, office or even a multi-storey car park.

Paul Kelly, at Knight Frank Liverpool, said: “The Lime Street Station area of Liverpool is of great interest at the moment, with the proposed £35m redevelopment project, Lime Street Gateway, now under way.

“The site has fantastic development potential and could act as a catalyst for wider development in the area.”

The building showed its last film early in 2008 before being closed. Odeon Cinemas opened up a new multiplex at Liverpool One.

The building was first known as the Paramount Cinema when it opened in 1934 and was the last surviving traditional cinema building in the city centre.

It was built on the site of a boxing stadium that closed three years earlier and was demolished.

The plan was to build a 2,670-seater super- cinema, the largest in Merseyside.

Owners of the other big city centre cinemas, the Futurist, Scala and Palais de Luxe objected to the cinema licence being granted for the Paramount, described as the very last word in cinema luxury. It cost £240,000 to build.

The Lord Mayor, Ald George Alfred Strong, opened the Paramount on October 15, 1934, when Cecil B DeMille’s Cleopatra was screened.

The cinema hired internationally renowned organist Rowland F Tims.

Early-bird tickets cost just a shilling (5p) with prices ranging later in the day between a shilling and 3s 6d (17.5p). It was renamed the Odeon in 1942 when Paramount sold out to the Odeon circuit. In 1954, the Odeon became Liverpool's first large-screen Cinemascope cinema. The classic film, The Robe, was the first to be shown on the new big curved screen. The organ remained until 1968 when it was switched to two screens.