Cafés and restaurants around St George’s Square were left fuming over lost business yesterday after being ordered to close as a security measure for the Queen’s visit – only for the venue to be changed at the eleventh hour.
A welcoming ceremony planned to take place yesterday outside the Palace in Valletta was moved to San Anton Palace, the official reason being the inclement weather.
Establishments in the area were only informed of the change as late as 9pm the night before, which left them with no time to inform their staff to come into work, many remaining closed as a result.
“First they shut our businesses down for a day with no compensation at all, then the ceremony was moved so all that business was lost for nothing,” one bar owner told the Times of Malta. “We’ve chalked today off as a loss.”
A number of establishments that managed to open said they were still planning on closing early due to the low number of people in Valletta yesterday.
“The disorganisation has been terrible for us,” a restaurant manager said. “People have gotten scared about traffic with all the conflicting information that’s going around and many stayed home.” Heavy security was put in place around the square in anticipation of the Queen’s visit before it was relocated.
One establishment in Old Theatre Street was told that apart from shutting its doors to customers, any staff wishing to remain inside the building had to individually apply for police permission.
Meanwhile, in an email sent to members, the Casino Maltese said the authorities had insisted that nobody was to stand on the balconies, as had been done in the past during similar events.
Instead, casino members were instructed to watch proceedings from behind the glass panes on the first floor. Residents in the area were also told to keep their doors and windows closed during the ceremony.
The owner of a café in Republic Square told this newspaper he had been instructed to remove all umbrellas and street furniture from the square. A few minutes after staff had finished doing so, they were told they could place them back as the venue had been changed.
In contrast, despite the programme change, establishments around San Anton Palace said yesterday they had received no instructions from the authorities regarding security, and were open for business as usual throughout the day.