The Plaza Cinema was built during the first months of the Second World War in a high Art Deco style and opened in 1940.In 1983 it was closed as a cinema and opened as a bingo club, however it reopened as a cinema in 1985. The cinema finally closed in January 1999, with the last film shown being the Prince of Egypt. The Plaza was grade II listed later in 1999. NPTBC acquired the cinema building in 2009.

I've sketched the cinema on several occasions. I actually made two sketches based on the photograph that I used for the top picture, and both of them were sold for Oxfam.