The owner of a Valletta café overlooking the Grand Harbour will have to pack up and leave after a planning tribunal threw out his appeal to save the property from being demolished.

Martin Baron was hoping to stop Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna from knocking down his Café Deux Baronnes in the Saluting Battery – beneath the Upper Barrakka Gardens – and creating a small room to mirror the Master Gunner’s quarters during the colonial era.

However, the planning tribunal said FWA would have to amend and revise the plans for the building to perfectly reflect the structure as marked in a particular map kept at the Museum Department.

The original permit had been approved last November, after which Mr Baron filed the appeal against FWA’s Mario Farrugia and the planning authority. The issue led to a number of disputes between the two men who contested each other’s claims.

The heritage group, which runs the Saluting Battery, had argued that the rebuilt Master Gunner’s quarters would offer “much needed roof space” for the many visitors.

The original building formed part of the Saluting Battery and was used as the quarters of the Master Gunner who manned the battery. Built in the 1860s, it was demolished during World War II and was partially reconstructed in the 1950s to be used by the British before it was decommissioned.

In the appeal, Mr Baron pointed out that the proposed development clashed with planning policies on the reconstruction of existing buildings.

It was going to negatively affect the setting and skyline of the fortifications, while his kiosk was “lightweight” and did not touch the bastion walls.

The original structure no longer existed and FWA only wanted to build a replica, which did not resemble the original. Even its use was not going to be the same, he said.

However, the planning authority and Mr Farrugia replied that the project fell in line with planning policies and could never be considered as an accretion. The restoration of the fortifications was a holistic exercise and part of the area’s regeneration.

In its decision, the tribunal said monuments had to be restored to benefit society. There should not be uses that did not reflect the historical building or “capricious modifications”.

“This is being said in light of the fact that the original proposal wasn’t to build the gunner’s quarters as indicated, but similar to it, and in these similar circumstances, this should not be allowed,” the tribunal said.

The tribunal gave Mr Farrugia 30 days to present amended and revised plans where the building had to be faithful to the original structure.

It could not be used other than the “spirit” of the quarters and could not “include space for a maintenance workshop”.