Elderly residents in Floriana say they are being forced to stay inside their homes whenever a large event is being hosted at The Granaries.

Daily chores become an obstacle race as residents have no choice but to walk longer distances manoeuvring through rows of high barriers for some four days before the actual event.

“We’ve become a concert city. Each time, we feel locked inside our homes. They close the roads and ask us to move our cars from near our homes,” said 75-year-old Doreen Gatt.

On the day of the Robbie Williams concert, Gatt said she could not even go to her sister’s house round the corner as a police officer would not let her through the barrier.

Her friend, Marie Therese Camilleri, 82, cannot understand why roads are closed off days before the actual event.

“I get it that they close the roads on the day. But why so much before? There are residents living here.”

Many other residents share their sentiments, including two friends, aged 79 and 85, who live in the area of the police headquarters.

“The Mall Garden is closed off from days before, forcing us to walk around as opposed to simply cross over to buy our groceries,” said one of the women, who uses a walking aid and who preferred not to be named.

I get it that they close the roads on the day. But why so much before?

While they were looking forward to hearing the songs of André Rieu from their homes, both women – who are widows – spoke about the inconvenience caused whenever there was a concert: seven have been held this year.

Louis Vella, 66, was born in the Floriana house he still lives in alone today.

When the roads are closed off, Vella, who has Parkinson’s, walks around the barriers to be able to cross to Granaries Café, which he likes to visit daily.

“They should, at least, leave a pathway for us to be able to cross,” he says.

Stefan Bartolo is one of the owners of Granaries Café located just off the granaries near the St Publius parish church.

He complained that, depending on the concert organisers, his café is barricaded off from the concert area – causing him to lose out on business.

'Heart of the locality on life support'

PN local councillor James Aaron Ellul has been very vociferous about the problems faced by residents.

He says organisers need to understand there are residents living in Floriana and most are elderly.

“Us councillors are the ones who mostly understand residents because we have their best interest at heart and we should be heeded,” he said, calling for more consultation with the local council ahead of such events.

Ellul stressed that the council was not against hosting concerts in Floriana, but there was a need for changes and guidelines regulating such events.

The Floriana council only gets €11.65 fee to issue the permit. 

“The heart of the locality is dying. It’s on life support… We are losing our identity,” he said.

Negligence of the granaries is a sign of the negligence towards the locality

Incentives for young couples and investment in the locality were needed, he said, citing the example of St Anne Street, a shabby pedestrian underpass and unrestored bastions.

Even the granaries were run down.

“Negligence of the granaries is a sign of the negligence towards the locality,” he said.

Last week, Ellul launched a petition to protect his locality’s cultural heritage and safeguard the granaries – once the busy heart of Floriana.

The elderly residents remember this clearly.

“I remember a day when the granaries were packed with locals and their children every afternoon in summer. People would head out of their homes and try to find a place on one of the silos where they would eat their bread while the children played.

"This no longer happens. It’s mostly elderly people, like us, who live in Floriana today. I was born here and plan to stay here but my children left,” one woman said.