Constructed between 1961 and 1962, the building was built by Richard Costain Limited for Alfred Esdaile and designed by Carl Fisher and Associates.

[1] The building, named for then-Prince Charles, originally functioned as a theatre with a distinctive 'satellite dish' curve to the floor of the stalls, meaning that audience members are sat at an upwards angle as they face the stage.

"[3] He further described it as London's "queen's jewel" of a grindhouse saying "I was so honoured when Reservoir Dogs hit so big there that they started playing it at midnight and all the lads would show up in the black suits with little squirt guns".

[6] Often the screenings have Q&As with special guests; previous speakers have included Tony Juniper, David Miliband and Sir Menzies Campbell.

[7] In Time Out Magazine in 2021, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson chose the cinema as his favourite in London, going on to say "‘The Prince Charles has a place in my heart.

[9] In June 2024, the cinema cancelled a planned world premiere of The Last Screenwriter, a film written by ChatGPT, amid concerns from its patrons about the use of artificial intelligence "in place of a writer".

Zedwell also want to raise the premises' rent, which the PCC claims would be "at a level which no cinema proprietor would consider reasonable and refusing to supply any information to back this up".

[11][12] Following the announcement, a petition was set up to Zedwell LSQ Ltd and its parent company Criterion Capital, which reached 10,000 signatures within an hour.