Café owner loses battle with the Master Gunner

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...