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The Ultimate Picture Palace is an independent cinema in
In the 2000s the cinema got into debt. In July 2009 Saied Marham sold it to Philippa Farrow and Jane Derricott, who installed a small refreshment bar in the northwest corner of the auditorium.
In 2011 Farrow and Derricott sold the cinema to Becky Hallsmith. In 2014, as a result of a successful Kickstarter Campaign, Hallsmith had the auditorium refurbished with new seats.
Becky Hallsmith died in September 2018. In April 2022 the 'Own the UPP' campaign offered 312,000 community shares to Oxford residents, in July 2022 the campaign had sold sufficient shares to run the cinema as a community asset.
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England. It is Oxford's only surviving independent cinema, showing a mixture of independent, mainstream, foreign language, and classic films.
The cinema has been a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
since 1994.
History
Frank Stuart opened Oxford's first cinema, the Electric Theatre, in Castle Street, in 1910. He was the licensee of the Elm Tree pub on the corner of Cowley Road and Jeune Street. Also in 1910 work started to build Stuart's second cinema on land in Jeune Street behind the Elm Tree. It opened on 24 February 1911 as the Oxford Picture Palace. In 1917 the manager wasconscripted
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
to serve in the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The cinema was closed and stood unused for many years before being turned into a furniture warehouse.
In 1976 Bill Heine and Pablo Butcher reopened the cinema as the Penultimate Picture Palace. They added a sculpture of Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...
's hands by John Buckley to the façade. The first film to be shown was '' Winstanley''. Under the new management the cinema gained a reputation for showing an eclectic and provocative range of films that set it apart from the mainstream cinemas of the time.
In 1994 Heine closed the Penultimate Picture Palace. For a month that summer it was squatted
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
by the Oxford Freedom Network, which reopened it as Studio 6 Cinema. Then brothers Saied and Zaid Marham bought it and spent £40,000 restoring the neoclassical façade. They reopened it as the Ultimate Picture Palace in June 1996.
In the 2000s the cinema got into debt. In July 2009 Saied Marham sold it to Philippa Farrow and Jane Derricott, who installed a small refreshment bar in the northwest corner of the auditorium.
In 2011 Farrow and Derricott sold the cinema to Becky Hallsmith. In 2014, as a result of a successful Kickstarter Campaign, Hallsmith had the auditorium refurbished with new seats.
Becky Hallsmith died in September 2018. In April 2022 the 'Own the UPP' campaign offered 312,000 community shares to Oxford residents, in July 2022 the campaign had sold sufficient shares to run the cinema as a community asset.
See also
*Phoenix Picturehouse
The Phoenix Picturehouse is a cinema in Oxford, England. It is at 57 Walton Street in the Jericho district of Oxford.
The Phoenix used to be an independent cinema, and from 1989 the Picturehouse Cinemas chain developed from it. Since 2012 the ...
, Walton Street
References
Further reading
*External links
* * – documentary film about the Ultimate Picture Palace *{{cite web , url= https://www.cowleyroad.org/wiki/index.php?title=UPP , title=UPP , publisher=CowleyRoad.org – wiki entry on a local website 1911 establishments in England 1976 establishments in England 1996 establishments in England Cinemas in Oxfordshire Culture in Oxford Grade II listed buildings in Oxford Theatres completed in 1911