Page 12 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

Quality In A Small Package:

The Circle Preston

by Rod Cook and Ian Smith

When Hoyts Theatres Ltd.
suspended their building program at the
onset of the Depression, Melbourne
was a city of one million people. Six
years later, amidst signs that the
economy was picking up, expansion
was back on the agenda.
Hoyts New Windsor (1936) was an
example of the new thinking: prestige
venues for a cinema renewal in some
inner suburbs, and plans for smaller,
equally interesting designs in growth
areas. The Circle Preston was in this
second category. By the time it was
opened, the population of the city was
1.1million.
Preston is eight km. north-east of
central Melbourne, one of the northern
suburbs in a corridor of residential
properties and light industry. By the
late 1930s the grid of streets that
followed the electrified rail line beyond
Preston had not covered all remnants of
grazing land. North of the site chosen
for the theatre, Cheddar Road West was
a reminder of the link between animal
production and food processing.
Hutton’s Bacon factory was nearby and Request for permission to open from the manager of the tannery that built the theatre.
the smell from tanneries often lingered
on the night air.
It was a local tannery, W. H.
1
Braithwaite Pty Ltd., that built the
theatre, with Hoyts as their lessee; an
arrangement that lasted until 1951
when Hoyts bought the freehold. Preston Train Station ROAD
CATHS member Maurice Scott
managed the theatre for a short time. 2 PLENTY
Apart from a fondness for the building,
his vivid memory is of the intrusive
BELL STREET
smell from the tannery.
The new cinema was 2.5 km north
of Hoyts Regent Thornbury. Opened 3
in 1925, the Regent had long been the Bell Train Station STREET
premier venue in a locality also served
by five independent cinemas. With a HIGH
prominent frontage to High Street and a 5 4
seating capacity of 1,697, it was in high
contrast to the 925-seat, stadium-style
1. Circle 4. Planet
Circle, on the same road and only two
train stations away. 2. St James 5. Rivoli
3. Gowerville 6. Regent
Thornbury Train Station 6
At their peak the number of working cinemas in Preston and district could rival any
suburb. The tiny Progress, West Preston is not shown. Map is not to scale.

12 2009 CINEMARECORD