This cinema, with seating for 1600, was built in 1936 and opened in February 1937. It was designed by the Lincoln City Council architect Leslie C. Norton of London for Central Picture Theatres (Lincoln). In 1956 it was renamed from ‘The Ritz’ to ‘The Odeon’ after it was acquired by the Rank Organisation. It closed in 1981 but reopened in 1985 as ‘The Ritz’ again and, as well as a cinema, it served as a concert venue until the late 1980s or early 1990s when it was divided into a three-screen cinema. It closed as a cinema in January 1998 and became the Ritz Public House operated by Wetherspoons. The building is the best preserved example of a major cinema in Lincoln (and possibly in the East Midlands). Parts of the ground floor were shops fronting onto High Street until the conversion into a public house. {1}{2}