C20 Society is extremely disappointed to learn that a Certificate of Immunity from Listing has been renewed for Britain’s first Multiplex Cinema, The Point in Milton Keynes (BDP, 1985), which celebrated its 40th birthday in November 2025 yet now faces demolition. The site has been earmarked for a cluster of 21-storey residential towers by Galliard Homes, that were approved on appeal by the Planning Inspector in July 2025.

Despite an extensive new listing assessment and important new evidence presented by C20 Society and the Cinema Theatre Association, that underlined its historic importance in development of cinemas in the UK and worldwide, the advice from Historic England to DCMS was unchanged from previous assessments, believing that The Point does not meet the criteria for national listing. In their assessment, Historic England stated that ‘In terms of the history of cinema, the development of the multiplex represents a relatively late stage in its wider evolution and is not of national significance… [and] as a building type and way of enjoying entertainment, the multiplex was pioneered in the United States rather than Britain’. To date only one post-war cinema in England has been nationally listed – the Grade II 1960s Curzon Cinema, Mayfair – with the heritage of multiplexes and later developments in cinema architecture going completely unrecognised.

The 70ft high bright red steel pyramid of The Point, picked out in neon red at night with mirrored glass ziggurat beneath, remains the defining landmark of the low-rise skyline of Milton Keynes. C20 Society will continue to campaign for a pragmatic scheme that retains the pyramid structure, while redeveloping the connecting cinema hall and multistorey car-park. These latter elements make up more than 50% of the site, yet are of no architectural value.

‘Taking Britain back to the movies!’

By the mid-1980s British cinema-going was at a historic low-ebb, with the number of cinemas falling from 4,800 at the outbreak of the Second World War to 660 in 1984, and annual admissions declining from from £1.6 billion in 1946 to £56 million in the same timeframe. It was in this context that Milton Keynes was chosen as the ideal location for a bold new experiment by the AMC cinema chain. As the largest and most ambitious of the post-war New Towns, it had a sizeable catchment area across the south and east of England, with ample car parking and the adjacent shopping centre to attract potential visitors.

Designed by BDP and Tibbetts Associates, The Point opened on 29 Nov 1985 with screenings of Back to the Future, The Goonies, and My Beautiful Launderette. As well having 10 fully independent screens, it introduced many innovations and comforts we now take for granted; like cup holders and uninterrupted views from every seat, plus on-site leisure facilities like bars, restaurants, nightclubs and a disco. The Point sparked a renaissance in British cinema-going and helped inspire the global proliferation of multiplexes. It welcomed more than a million visitors in its first year, doubling initial expectations of 500,000 visitors.

From a single multiplex site in 1985, by 1991 there were 41 multiplexes across Britain containing 387 screens – making up a quarter of all cinema screens in the country. The Point’s unique claim as Britain’s first American style multiplex cinema was already well-established, but former AMC cinema executives Millard Ochs and Charles J Wesoky have recently confirmed it was in fact the first example of a multiplex globally, outside the United States.

Decline and demolition threat

The Point went into a decline after the arrival in Milton Keynes of the giant Xscape leisure complex in 2000, boasting a 16-screen cinema, indoor sky slope, shops, restaurants and a casino.

The nightclub at The Point closed in 2007 with the Odeon cinema following in 2015. In the interim, the building has provided a home for local youth charities, while grassroots campaigners launched various petitions and crowd funders in an attempt to save the building, highlighting its community value, innovative design and landmark status

A £150 million housing scheme by Galliard Homes that would have seen the demolition of The Point, was unanimously rejected by Milton Keynes City Councilors in July 2024. However this decision was appealed by the developers, who in July 2025 won approval from the Planning Inspector to develop the site into a 21-storey apartment block containing 487 flats.

Labour leader of the council, Peter Marland, said the Planning Inspectors decision showed a “complete disregard for the unique heritage of the city” and that the proposed scheme was “terrible in almost every single way”, citing its lack of affordable homes, “bad design” and “identikit flats”. He added: “[The Point] is just as important for the people of Milton Keynes as the Liver Building is to the people of Liverpool or St Paul’s is to Londoners – just because its newer doesn’t mean it’s any less important”. Milton Keynes Council was believed to be taking legal advice as to whether it could challenge the planning appeal decision.

Film critics, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, of the Kermode and Mayo’s Take podcast, have recently backed the campaign, commenting: “That building is amazing. I’ve been around it and it does look exactly like a pyramid. If you are in government now – that’d be Lisa Nandy I imagine – could you get that sorted and list The Point? Thanks very much!”