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Julian Manduca
It was home to the finest ‘ruggiata’ on the Island. A picturesque wooden kiosk adorned the small square surrounded by ageing ficus trees… until one fine day the lease of the kiosk was taken by one of the late Lorry Sant’s friends and transformed into one the ugliest structures on the strand. Now the remainder of the lease of the Magic Kiosk in Pjazza St Anna Sliema will be on sale by auction 16 June and bidding will start at exactly zero liri. The kiosk has had its fair share of controversy and the extension of its lease is now up for auction following action taken by the Bank of Valletta.
The court has now chosen Thursday 16 June, between 9am and 12 midday, for an auction which will take place in the corridors of the court.
A similar auction was to take place on 17 February of this year, but attracted little interest and no takers. For that auction the value was stated at Lm280,000, but since no bidders turned up the Bank has exercised its right to offer the place to the highest bidder.
The auction is for “the extension of the temporary emphyteusis for the period of 17 years commencing 20 December 1991,” and so will run for less than three years subject to any further extensions.
According to a notice appearing in the government gazette the property consists of “a kiosk and a divided portion of land, being subject to the annual ground rent of Lm1,500 revisable every five years at an increment of 10 per cent, valued at Lm280,000.”
The Magic Kiosk, which includes the Magic Café and Restaurant, was born in controversy, suffering through a politically motivated boycott by the Nationalist Party back in the eighties, now faces the possibility of changing hands. The kiosk has its fans, but has also had to face a fair amount of criticism.
Before St Anne’s square was dominated by the glass framed structures which make up the kiosk, the square was an open space with a small kiosk run by the Bonello family.
The Bonellos and many in Sliema were not pleased when the government decided to issue a public call for the running of the kiosk in the 1970s.
According to the current lessee, Joseph Pace, who has often portrayed himself as a victim, his so called trouble with former Labour minister Lorry Sant started back then.
“At that time the kiosk was on encroachment terms at the meagre rent of Lm30 a year,” Pace had told MaltaToday. “Government decided that Bonello’s kiosk should be given out on tender. I submitted an offer of Lm1,500 while the Bonello family submitted their offer at Lm50 a year. Government accepted my offer and the premises was given to me on the condition that I employ 22 full-time employees and four part-timers.”
Pace alleged with MaltaToday that Lorry Sant had asked him for Lm25,000 and threatened that if he was not paid he would kick him off the land. Pace said since he had already spent Lm180,000 and employed a number of people he had no alternative but to comply.
The Magic Kiosk became talk of the town again in the early eighties when the Nationalist Party organised a boycott against those that advertised on Xandir Malta, the precursor of PBS, Malta’s national TV station.
The boycott was part of a wave of civil disobedience that the Nationalist party started at the time because of the erosion of human rights during that turbulent period, and had damaging effects on Pace’s business given the high incidence of Nationalist supporters.
Fans and detractors
The announcement that the lease of the Kiosk is to be sold by court auction brought a quick response from readers who wrote to The Times, where the court notice was publicised.
Nicolette Zammit Lupi from Sliema wrote: “Building up the square was an obscenity in the first place. The present construction – it cannot be called a building – is a monstrosity. What used to be an arbour in an otherwise over built-up area is now a vulgar eyesore.”
She continued: “I appeal to Sliema residents and businesses alike to assert themselves so that we can have our ‘square’ with its beautiful trees and the quaint little kiosk back. Besides restoring to the area the character it has lost, it would also give us a little space to breathe.”
Her sentiments were echoed by Anton Valentino, an architect from Madliena who wrote: “This is an exceptional opportunity to give back to Sliema one of its handsome squares which was stolen from its people some years back in the interests of insensitive monetary greed. There are many persons like me who remember Pjazza Sant’Anna as a square, where one could relax under a generous canopy of trees, just off the hustle and bustle of Tower Road, and where the only structure was the unobtrusive Bonello kiosk where one could buy a ‘sensation’ and a packet of crisps. One did not have to pay to sit down in this square in the company of one’s friends and a guitar.”
Valentino pushed the government to take action: “The government and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority should, if they wish to practise what they preach, intervene to acquire the revolting structure themselves and should then immediately proceed to demolish the building and properly landscape the square. This would indeed be a fine gift to the nation which would be greatly appreciated by residents and tourists who frequent this important node in the Sliema streetscape.”
But Magic Kiosk has its defenders and UK couple Pat and Gordon Dorrington wrote worriedly: “Is it true that that great restaurant and meeting place The Magic Kiosk is in trouble? We have had many excellent meals there from their terrific breakfast to dinner and light meals too on our many holidays in Sliema. We have just recently returned from a long holiday when we often went to the Magic Kiosk where the staff are as good as the meals and they are really attentive and make absolutely sure you are happy with what you have ordered.”
julian@newsworksltd.com
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