Gozo life at night

The village of Xaghra, like that of Xlendi and Marsalforn, are alive late at nights during the summer, and even in the winter. The credit is due to the owners of the restaurants and cafés in the village misrah (square), keeping open till late in the night, attracting tourists and locals to enjoy the coolness of the night, sipping a late coffee or cold drink.

In my opinion, this is something to be encouraged and other villages in the lovely island of Gozo should be encouraged to do likewise, preventing Gozo falling dead after sunset, as happens in Valletta. The government and the commercial community are spending a lot of money to try to revive Valletta. The success here is still far away. Something more has to be done.

But in the villages of Gozo, as in Xaghra and Xlendi, the restaurants and the cafés give life to the centre of the villages by just keeping open for business with their tables and chairs in the open air, on pavements, without encumbering anyone, not even the traffic flow, or the residents.

I was shocked to read your article "Restaurant eating its way into square" (Gozo Times, July 14) hinting that this restaurant is blocking the traffic with its tables. I appeal to the tourist authorities, and even to the Mepa, not to take any steps that may kill such initiatives.

If we want tourists and Maltese to visit Gozo more we should give them such places where to enjoy the time they spend there, and surely Xaghra offers such facilities.

Instead of trying to curtail these activities, let us encourage those who have shops in this misrah, to keep it open late at night. Let us encourage those old-time cafés to follow suit and put some tables in the open areas outside their shops.

Let us put more lighting and maybe some music at a low pitch, to improve the attraction of our beautiful village.