The Ultimate Picture Palace

The Ultimate Picture Palace — known locally as the UPP — is the single-screen, community-owned independent cinema on Jeune Street, one block north of the Cowley Road. It opened on 27 February 1911 as the Oxford Picture Palace, in the early wave of purpose-built cinemas across the country. The frontage and much of the original auditorium fabric survive, and the building was Grade II listed in 1994.

The cinema has run continuously under a series of names: it became the Penultimate Picture Palace in 1976 under the ownership of Bill Heine and Pablo Butcher, a period that gave the building its distinctive grinning-skull and "Al Jolson" exterior decorations. The current name, the Ultimate Picture Palace, dates from 1996. After Heine's death and a period of uncertainty, the UPP was acquired by a community shareholders' trust in 2022 and is now run as a not-for-profit by its members.

What's on

Programming is the classic single-screen arthouse mix: contemporary world cinema, foreign-language releases, queer cinema, archive repertory, themed seasons (Bergman, Studio Ghibli, Hitchcock), late-night cult and the occasional sing-along screening. Tickets are kept deliberately low — adult tickets are typically £8–£10, with member discounts and concessions. The bar serves wine, beer and snacks from before each show.

Visiting

The cinema sits on Jeune Street, which runs off the Cowley Road just north of Magdalen Road — a short walk from the East Oxford pubs and restaurants. The cinema is single-screen and intimate — around 200 seats — so popular screenings sell out; book ahead. The building is largely step-free at ground level but original Edwardian features mean a couple of seating sections involve steps.

Opening date (27 February 1911), original name, listing grade (Grade II, 1994), Penultimate / Bill Heine period (from 1976), current name (from 1996) and 2022 community-ownership transition all from the Wikipedia article and the UPP About page.