It was bigger than the London Palladium and one of the first theatres to use electric lights.

Now, after standing derelict for a generation, the lights at the Theatre Royal are on once more.

As our pictures show, the theatre’s transformation into an entertainment complex containing restaurants, bars, cafes and flats is well on its way to being completed.

The front of the theatre and the circle lounge is now complete.

Councillors were given a tour of the rooms and were “over the moon” with what they saw.

The 3,000-seat theatre in Chatham High Street opened in 1899 and played host to some great showbiz names including Charlie Chaplin, Max Miller, Gracie Fields and George Formby.

But the curtain fell for the final time in 1955 amid the growth of television.

A campaign to restore it began in the 1980s but the cost mounted to £20m.

As the building fell apart, property developer Chatham Housing applied to knock it down but got embroiled in a long battle with the council.

The grand auditorium was demolished in 2009, leaving just the substantial entrances, foyers and bars.

They were bought, along with a former bank and coffee house next door, by Strood investors Roger and Paul Thomas for £800,000 in 2010.

Roger told the Medway Messenger there was three months of work left – on the bank chambers – before they starting look for a business to operate there.

Twenty-six flats, built by mhs homes, are due to be finished in January.

He said: “We’ve got the building back as it should’ve been. They [the councillors] were all pleased with what’s going on.”

Cllr Jane Chitty, head of economic development for Medway Council, said it “took my breath away”. She said: “It took me back to when I was a little girl and my parents took me and my sister to see a show there. The work is absolutely glorious.”