The Planning Commission has given its green light for two restaurants to operate at the site previously known as the Raffles Discotheque, in Pembroke, following the approval of a separate application to turn it into a childcare centre.
The property, in a prime site, was acquired by the Labour Party through a controversial expropriation deal more than four decades ago. The party subsequently reached a deal for the lease of the site and its commercialisation.
After obtaining permission for a childcare centre with food kiosks outside, Mario Brincat applied for an amendment for the permitted kiosks to become fully-fledged restaurants, including additional seating areas and the installation of demountable umbrellas.
The application also included minor external and internal alterations within the scheduled Grade 1 building.
The structure was built as a Junior Ranks’ Club by the British services in 1902 and was part of a deal through which the PL was given properties, a factory in Marsa currently used as the party’s television and radio station, the historic Maċina building in Senglea, which served as Labour’s headquarters until 1994, and €40,500 in cash.
In exchange, it gave up Freedom Press in Marsa, then used as its HQ, which was taken over by Malta Shipbuilding.
The properties were transferred through a parliamentary resolution on August 7, 1979.
Properties' overall footprint was 14,000 square metres
The properties in Pembroke, which had an overall footprint of 14,000 square metres, comprised the Australia Hall, which at the time was still a fully-equipped theatre, Hook House and the Junior Ranks Club, now known as Raffles.
The Raffles was a popular disco in the 1980s and later fell into disuse and was the target of arsonists. It is located within the limits of the development boundary of Pembroke and has frontage on both Triq Dun Ġużepp Farrugia and Triq Arnhem, being a site between two streets.
The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) and the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee did not object to the request. The PA’s Development Management Directorate deemed the proposed development acceptable from a planning point of view and recommended the application for approval.
The project was unanimously approved when it was discussed by the Planning Commission this week.
In January 2000, the PA had issued a permit for the conversion of the building into a child development centre, comprising the redevelopment of the two-storey building and connected to an underground development of three levels in front of the building.
The permit had never been implemented.