The Planning Authority has approved a permit to sanction a restaurant canopy that has illegally occupied a section of a busy main road in Sliema for around a decade.

The canopy belongs to Gourmet Cocktail Bar & Grill on The Strand, which first hit the headlines in 2022 after frustrated residents called for enforcement action against the business, saying it was operating without a permit and impacting their quality of life.

The permit to sanction the property was filed by Malta Developers Association president Michael Stivala in June 2022 but was recommended for refusal by a PA officer a year later.

In December, however, the PA board overruled the officer’s recommendation on grounds the reasons for refusal were “no longer applicable” or “being addressed” and approved the permit.

To conform with the approval, the bar is expected to replace the existing tiling with a “demountable timber platform” and alter the canopy’s shading to set it slightly further back from the road, among other changes, according to a PA document attached to the case.

Resident Annamaria Baldacchino – who has taken the extraordinary step of applying for an encroachment concession in a bid to return the land to the public – said she planned to appeal the PA’s decision.

Baldacchino said she had raised concerns about noise pollution and rubbish and traffic issues created by the canopy at a meeting about the permit, only to be told such matters were not in the authority’s remit.

The country does not belong to bar owners

“It’s not fair the sanctioning board – which is part of the Planning Authority – tells me these things are not in its remit; I do not accept this,” she said, stressing such concerns were in line with the authority’s mission statement.

According to the PA website, its mission is to act “on behalf of the community to provide a balanced and sustainable environment... [and] provide a better quality of life for the community”.

Baldacchino said loud music from the bar was causing nearby residential buildings to vibrate all day long and into the night, and that residents were unable to use their balconies due to strong food odours wafting up from the premises.

She added that car access for residents was frequently blocked by the business’ operations and said it was not right for those living locally to walk through a bar just to leave their apartment.

“I’m not doing this just for me, it’s for everyone,” she said.

Baldacchino’s lawyer, Claire Bonello, called the required changes to the canopy “merely cosmetic” and confirmed the pair would appeal the approval once the permit was published in the government gazette, adding it was “inconceivable that public land be given away to business”.

“The country does not belong to bar owners,” she said, calling efforts to fight illegalities a “constant war on different fronts”.

Bonello stressed the bar had operated without permits from the Planning Authority, Lands Authority and Malta Tourism Authority for almost a decade, and called the decision to approve the sanctioning permit “unfair and discriminating”.

A wider problem

While Baldacchino’s recent actions have put Gourmet Cocktail Bar & Grill into the spotlight, other bars on the same road have also recently come under fire recently for similar reasons. 

Last month, Sliema mayor John Pillow uploaded a video to Facebook which showed him walking through MedAsia Fusion Lounge and an adjacent bar ‒ which are connected by their outdoor seating areas ‒ with the words, “this is unacceptable” superimposed on the footage.  

The video shows the bars busy with activity during night-time trading hours while loud music blares out in the background. 

When contacted, Pillow said such outdoor structures were unacceptable, and that he had already raised the issue both in council meetings and with social partners, including the Chamber of Commerce.

“That the bars are closed off like that is a disaster – it looks ugly and forces families and people who are wheelchair bound, to pass through bars with people smoking. The area has been turned into a tunnel,” he said.  

Raising safety concerns due to passing cars, Pillow said he was “waiting for an accident to happen,” pointing to a similar accident two years earlier when a car crashed into the Dolce Peccati coffee shop in the locality.  

He also raised concerns about a pedestrian crossing sandwiched between two of the bars, that “forces people to lean out to check for any oncoming traffic.” 

Pillow added that cars frequently double-parked on the busy road to unload goods for the bars due to the lack of adequate parking.  

However, while disagreeing with the outdoor areas in their present state, he suggested stripping back the enclosures to turn them into removable platforms with some umbrellas.

Use of public land by businesses has become a regular sight in Malta and is an issue frequently highlighted on social media.