Heritage site marker Piccadilly gardens

Piccadilly Gardens was an outdoor theatre where local residents watched films from deck chairs in the 1920s. The Gardens were the forerunner to the Piccadilly Theatre, which was built on this site in the mid 1930s. Later known as the Civic Theatre, the ‘engineer designed’ building with its clock has become a well known local landmark.

Civic Theatre is attributed to Plunkett's builders, around 1937, and was built next door to the Piccadilly on the corner of the site, referred to as the Civic and Gardens or as the Civic Theatre and Piccadilly Gardens. The Theatre and Gardens could accommodate a total of 1000 people. In 1941 the operator was Percy Tyler. This was one of the suburban venues taken over in the forties by Goldfields Pictures. Film screenings here ceased in 1962 and in 1969 the building was converted for use as a nightclub. Max Kay then ran his theatre restaurant from 1960-1981.