The Palace Theatre is a theatre in Paignton, Devon, England. It was built in 1890 and is the oldest working theatre in Torbay. It has been owed and run by Torbay Council or its predecessor organisations since 1920. The theatre underwent a major refurbishment in 2005 and has a seating capacity of 380.
The Palace Theatre was originally an 800-seat hall for public use that opened in 1890. It was built by The Public Hall Company under managing director A. W. Axworthy, possibly as a reaction to the success of the small Gerston Theatre which had been opened as part of the Gerston Hotel in 1870 by Arthur Hyde Dendy. In 1919 an American-run film company, named Torquay and Paignton Photo-play Productions planned to buy out the Public Hall Company with the intention of building its film studios on the site of the hall to make “clean pictures for clean-minded people”. This did not proceed, however, and the hall was bought by Paignton Council in 1920 after its attempt the year before which had fallen through because a price could not be agreed.[1]