The future of Norwich Cinema City as the regional film theatre for Norwich and Norfolk was secured when it was redeveloped from a single-screen venue to one with three new digital screens. The cinema occupies a converted medieval hall house, listed Grade I, which was extended in the 1920s by notable local architect Edward Boardman to create an assembly hall. This was in turn converted into a single screen when Norwich Cinema City took up residence here in the 1970s. The challenge was to provide three screens in a manner that respected the historic significance and setting of the medieval building. Excavation created space for the additional screens below a main screen that were similar in size and capacity.

The refurbished café bar and restaurant in the medieval hall open out onto a courtyard which provides an oasis of calm in the city centre. The late John Hurt was the patron of Norwich Cinema City. Known for such films as The Elephant Man and An Englishman in New York, the BAFTA-winning actor, who lived in Norfolk, brought his experience of more than 50 years in the industry to the cinema and its education programme, CinemaPlus. See him talk about the importance of the cinema in the video below.