Torbay Street

Torbay Street is a short cul-de-sac off Brooklands Road. Just up the road is St Pius X School and in the other direction is Pukekura Park.  

The Puke Ariki Heritage Collection holds plans for the subdivision of Torbay Street, dated November 1950. For some unknown reason the development was delayed, and it was not until February 1958 that the survey plans were finally submitted to the Land Transfer Office. In the meantime the owner of the land, William Spray, had subdivided off four sections on Brooklands Road before embarking on this more ambitious project.

The Torbay Street subdivision included nine residential sections and at the end of the street, one section was vested as a reserve to provide pedestrian access to Vogeltown Park.  

Like many other New Plymouth streets it was named after a location in south-west England, Tor Bay - sometmes written as Torbay. This area is promoted as the “English Riviera”, however the ‘palm trees’  found along the coast are in fact the New Zealand cabbage tree (Cordyline australis). Notable people to have hailed from the Tor Bay region include the author Agatha Christie and the comedian Peter Cook, who famously teamed up with Dudley Moore.

Located on the corner of Torbay Street is what was once the Brooklands Dairy. Instead of selling bread and milk, the shop now services computers, a sign of changing times.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.