Tilleys

Seating 200 inside and 400 outside in the courtyard, this massive venue can be hired and functions can be arranged for the restaurant on evenings where no show is booked. Named after the colourful Tilley Devine, Sydney’s infamous madam and ‘Bordello Queen’ of the 1920s, the café was established on the corner of Wattle and Brigalow Streets in Lyneham in January 1984 by owner and manager, Paulie Higgisson. On opening night a seating capacity of 60 was swamped by an eager crowd of 420. With elegant, dark wood fittings, a moody, deep red colour scheme, and soft jazz wafting between the old-fashioned booths lining the walls, there are some things essentially nostalgic and cinematic about Tilley’s romantic atmosphere, reminiscent of a Hollywood film noir. Its timeless in a way that’s hard to emulate in a youngish, fickle town like Canberra, where high turnover of night spots seem inevitably dictated by the relative hip-factor of the décor, the DJ and the cocktail menu. However, Tilley’s has achieved more than just create a creative ambience and space of effortless charm; it has been blazing a trail on multiple fronts from its inception. Initially established to create a safe and comfortable environment for women, Tilley’s caused its first commotion by banning groups of men drinking inside unless they were accompanied by at least one woman. ‘I just didn’t want a room full of blokes’, Higgisson told the Canberra Times in 2003. Despite the uproar (generated generally by men) this door policy was maintained for two years, solidifying a non-threatening atmosphere, a considerate client base, and in the process unintentionally racking up a good deal of free publicity.