This rundown building use to house the last of Taiping's many cinemas and theatres, Mandarin Theatre, the others were Rex, Carlton, Sun, Capitol, Lido, Majestic/Cathay. With competition from video tapes, vcds and dvds, the y were slowly closed down. The Mandarin soldiered on but finally had to close when it accidentally caught fire. Taiping has been cinemaless for the past many years and appears to remain so.