Career
Coles was brought up in Leyton, East London and trained at Leyton Technical Institute. Cole"s most notable works include the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn and the Odeon, Muswell Hill, both of which are Grade II* listed buildings. Cole designed several other Odeon Cinemas for Oscar Deutsch, as well as the Carlton Cinema in Islington, the Troxy in Stepney and the Regal Cinema in Kettering.
He designed the Kingsland Empire in his birthplace, Dalston, of which the ceiling and upper walls survive hidden above the Rio Cinema.
Coles was also involved in the design of The People"s Palace (1936) later subsumed into Queen Mary College, University of London. He designed the British Home Stores (now Primark) in Rye Lane, Peckham.