I brought my friends from Liverpool to Valletta the other day for lunch at the Malata Restaurant in Palace Square. In days gone by, the square was full of cars and lorries that used chip fat for propulsion, it seemed.

Times have changed. The car park disappeared. The stench of diesel drenching the smell of old fat finally dispersed.

It became a pedestrian area, with music willing the water of the fountain up and down, tempting children to play in a safe and picturesque sanctuary.

My friends remembered this newly-formed spot as “the sanctuary of childhood”. So they came expecting an unrestricted view across the square. Instead, what they got were aluminium hoardings, placed there overnight and held down by huge and ugly water containers, stopping the wrath of the winds sweeping the structures away.

My friends were left sitting facing menus and staring at an ugly structure of gleaming aluminium; blank backsides of cloth concealing the artistry in front and obliterating the water fountains, children at play and the palace façade.

I think it would be helpful for the promoters and sponsors of events like Malta Fashion Week to share their plans with businesses beforehand and accommodate their needs. I appreciate Palace Square is a public space but I feel a little more consideration is called for when staging quite massive publicity events like this. I also feel that promoters and sponsors should consider the financial impacts they have on those businesses most likely to suffer.

My simple point in writing is to emphasise the folly of accidentally damaging a business because of a fashion week. I hope that, in future, these concerns are costed into the planning so that both employers and their employees would not suffer an accidental loss of income because of somebody’s oversight regarding a business’ right to survive.