This book examines the rise and fall of the picture house in Britain before the advent of the larger and more uniform style of the multiplex.

Few types of building provoke more nostalgic affection than the traditional high street cinema, both due to the appeal of older and more charming generations of films and because of the often beautiful architecture and design of the buildings themselves.

Many picture houses were unremarkable, and some quickly declined into uncomfortable 'fleapits', but others were some of the most extravagant and avant-garde buildings erected in the twentieth century - and around 160 surviving examples have become listed buildings.