The two characters involved in this monologue are fictional, yet they represent to our minds a plausible account of a decision-making process involving a middle-aged couple from a working-class household deciding to go to the cinema, at a particular place, and moment in time. It is interesting to note that the main feature film on the program is not named in the monologue – it is as if the film were a backdrop to the accoutrements of the cinema and its paid attendants. Indeed one could consider that the main attraction for the two was tobacco for Mr. Smeeth and confectionery for Mrs. Smeeth.

In 1930, the year in which the novel Angel Pavement was published, the north London suburb of Finsbury Park had two cinemas: the long-established 2,092-seater Finsbury Park, which was part of the Gaumont British chain, and from September the new “atmospheric” style Astoria, seating 3,000, which would soon be taken over from its original developers by Paramount. The Finsbury Park screened films immediately they went on general release, usually some months after their London West End premiere. After their initial London suburban exhibition these films then diffused outwards in time and space to lower-order subsequent-run cinemas that tended to be distinguished by being smaller and cheaper, while screening more films each week than their higher-order counterparts. This cascade-like process continued until the bottommost level had been reached. In Great Britain during the 1930s the passage of time between major film attractions being put out on general release and being withdrawn permanently from circulation could be as long as a year, but this varied considerably, as did the number of cinemas at which any one of these films was screened.