Ultimate PicturePalace

The Ultimate Picture Palace on Jeune Street, off Cowley Road, is Oxford's only surviving independent cinema, in a Grade II listed building first opened as the East Oxford Picture Palace in 1911. The cinema closed for decades before Oxford graduates Bill Heine and Pablo Butcher restored it and reopened it in 1976; brothers Saied and Zaid Marham took over in 1997 and gave it its current name. Following the death of longtime owner Becky Hallsmith in 2018, friends and family of the business converted it into a community-owned cinema through a share offer completed in 2022, so it is now owned collectively by local shareholders rather than a chain or a council trust. It runs a single screen with both 35mm film and digital projection, showing a mix of independent, foreign-language, classic and mainstream releases. The facade won an Oxford Preservation Trust award in 2013 for its restoration and lighting. A small bar in the auditorium serves hot drinks and wine before screenings.