flea pit

noun

flea pit

noun

1

Colloquial A dilapidated building, stereotypically hosting a low-grade cinema.

The Upland Cinema ("The Flea Pit") stood on the corner of The Grove, the street where he had been born.1964, Dylan Thomas, The Doctor and the Devils:
The Regal is no longer there, but, when I was eight, nine, and ten it was a flea pit down beside the harbor.1970, Colm Luibhéid, All the Green Gold: an Irish boyhood:

2 more examples

I remember going to the pictures at the local flea pit and seeing Riders of Death Valley, a serial in which I avidly #followed the fortunes of my hero Jim . . .1980, Mervyn Thompson, All My Lives:
The term flea pit was not justified as the cinema turned out to be clean and well maintained.2004, Keith Spratley, Provincial Eye: The Short Stories:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.