Actor Hugh Sheridan’s dad — a former Unley mayor — is here for the Fringe, and to walk King William Rd

HE’S the dad of actor Hugh Sheridan and a former mayor of Unley — and he’s back in Adelaide performing at the Fringe. But there was one stop he wanted to make first.

17.2.2016.Ex Unley mayor Denis Sheridan is performing in a Fringe show. was the mayor who paved King William Rd in bricks. Story is more about his reflection on his time as mayor. pic tait schmaal.

STROLLING along King William Rd is a trip down memory lane for Denis Sheridan.

Mr Sheridan, who was Unley’s mayor from 1982-1985, led the council when the shopping and dining strip was paved.

Now living in Sydney, the lifelong performer and father of actor Hugh Sheridan is back in Adelaide for his Fringe show, Aardvark Swing With The Sheridans.

Once know as the Singing Mayor, Mr Sheridan never misses a chance to visit what he dubbed in the ’80s “Unley’s yellow brick road” when he is back in his hometown.

Taking a stroll down the strip with the Eastern Courier Messenger last week, he recalls the first brick being laid. “I still remember when my wife, Margaret, put the first brick down,” Mr Sheridan says.

Home-grown actor Hugh Sheridan. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

“Looking around now, I’m proud to see how far it has come.

“And it wasn’t just me; everyone involved with the works deserved a pat on the back.”

As he takes in the restaurants, cafes and clothing stores, Mr Sheridan says before the pavers went down the street was “dead”.

“I remember an old garage opposite the pub on the corner of Mitchell St,” he says.

“But other than that there was next to nothing; a few empty shops.

“The area badly needed vibrancy and the bricks gave it that. Slowly but surely the people started to come.”

Looking across to the Toop & Toop headquarters — an old church nicknamed “The Abbey” — he recalls the night the plans to pave the road were first shown to the public.

“We had huge pieces of paper showing a monthly plan of the works. For 15 months it was mapped out, right around the room,” he says, spinning in a circle.

The original plan was to just pave the intersections, until the council decided it wanted to “do something special”.

“We needed to dig up the whole road to put in new pipes. We discussed the idea of just the intersections but then thought ‘let’s do the whole road’.

“It had to all be dug up, anyway.”

He considers the work on King William Rd as his legacy.

Mr Sheridan performs with his daughter, Meg, in Aardvark Swing With The Sheridans at Lotus Lounge, Morphett St, Adelaide, until Friday.