The art deco picture palace in Stepney where Dame Vera Lynn learned her trade is being restored to its former glory.

The Troxy Cinema opened in 1933 and housed audiences of more than 3,500 people. But it went out of fashion in the Sixties, closed down and fell into disrepair.

It reopened in 1992 as a bingo hall, the fate of many vintage London cinemas. Now Ashburn Estates, a Whitechapel property company which bought the building in April for £10 million, is completing a renovation that will see the Troxy reopen as an arts and entertainment centre.

The firm is understood to have spent £500,000 on restoring the interior already and will now turn its attention to the facade. Deepak Sharma, managing director-of offshoot company Troxy, said: "The ground floor of the Troxy is now open to the public who are, once again, able to savour its original beauty and grandeur.

"We are embarking on the next stage of the project, the full refurbishment of the first floor." The first film to be shown at the Troxy was King Kong. The last, in 1960, was The Siege Of Sidney Street, based on real-life local events.

It was also a live venue where stars such as the Andrews Sisters, Gracie Fields, Petula Clark, and even Clark Gable trod the boards. The young Vera Lynn, a local girl, made one of her early appearances here. But while the Troxy has been saved, scores of other historic theatres and cinemas in London have not done so well.

The Granada in Walthamstow, which is listed Grade II*, was opened in 1930 and has fine art deco and Moorish style interiors. Now in poor condition, it is on English Heritage's list of buildings at risk.

The historic Dalston Theatre, a venue for circus, theatre, cinema and music for nearly 120 years, will soon be demolished by Hackney council, which neglected it for many years. But there have been successes. The Hackney Empire reopened in 2004 and although the Kensington Odeon is being redeveloped, its facade has been saved.