No building type arouses more nostalgic affection than the traditional high street cinema, not only because of the impression made by the films on the screen and the havent if offered to courting couples, but also because of its own special atomosphere of expectations, relaxation and escape, usually enhanced by the decorative surroundings. Many picture huses were unremarkable, and some had decline to uncomfortable `fleapits` but the cinema inspired architects and designers to create some of the most extravagant and some of the most avant-garde buildings erected in the twentieth century. Around 160 surviving English examples have become listed buildings. This book examines the rise and fall of the picture house in Britain before the advent of the dreary and unadventurous multiplex.