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Located above the KTV studio nestled in Queenstown Cinema and Bowling Alley, this sign is reminiscent of the halcyon days of the beloved communal hub that provided residents with an outlet for entertainment and recreation.

Located next to the former Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market, the former Queenstown Cinema and Bowling Alley was one of Queenstown’s favourite entertainment spots in the 1980s and 1990s. The former Queenstown Cinema and Bowling Alley was opened in 1977 as one of the several amenities built on a 1.4 hectare extension site of the Town Centre.

In its heyday, queues would form at the cinema as movie-goers lined up for tickets. The four-storey entertainment complex comprised of two cinema halls, a bowling alley, private KTV lounges, an arcade, and various fast-food restaurants – most notable of all, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). A KFC restaurant was situated on the second floor of the complex overlooking the bowling alley, so that diners could watch the bowlers as they had their meals.

Located adjacent to the bowling alley was the Palace karaoke lounge. Opened in the late 1980s, the lounge was popular amongst karaoke enthusiasts who wanted to test their vocal abilities. A room at Palace KTV could set one back by $2 per hour. The early karaoke equipment used cassette tapes and required users to change the tracks manually. The entertainment system at Palace KTV had a karaoke mode that tried to remove the vocal track from the regular audio tapes. The crudeness of this approach was reflected in the reverberation of the vocal track and the inadvertent removal of other musical instruments.

The bowling alley and KTV lounge continued to operate even though the cinemas ceased operations in 1999. The Queenstown hall was then converted into a billiard and LAN centre for two years before the entire building was vacated. In 2013, the complex was subsequently demolished.