City Screen Picturehouse

York’s City Screen Picturehouse is a riverside arthouse cinema with superb food and drink options, plus a space for live music and comedy in the basement. Perched warehouse-style next to the flowing Ouse, it provides visiting culture vultures with a view almost as good as the high-calibre films on offer.

Part of the Picturehouse family of arty cinemas, famous for their cinephile setups across the UK, you can expect to find arthouse classics and new releases from around the world on screen, as well as live-streamed opera, theatre, and dance events.

This is the place to be for a cinema screening of films like Autumn de Wilde’s Emma, Sam Mendes’ 1917, and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, essentials that don’t always make it to mainstream cinemas. The air-con is finely-tuned and seating is designed for comfort – you’re generally guaranteed something different to your typical multiplex.

There’s also a top-notch restaurant and café to catch some food and drink before your movie and watch the outside world float by, a popular pastime for locals. Especially interesting dishes include the Korean Bulgogi, with pulled pork, kogogi, black lime chicharron and sriracha mayo, and the range of unleavened flatbreads with Levantine-inspired dips. You can also get a grilled kimchi sandwich. Then there’s a range of drinks including locally brewed beers and quality wines. Signing up to Picturehouse membership gets you 10% off all food and drink.

The location next to the river puts City Screen Picturehouse close to Jorvik and the Chocolate Museum, making it easy to include a visit to the cinema in your York itinerary.