After all, the century-old Tobacconist Martins no longer will close to the Public.en

The Tobacconist Martins, in the Largo do Calhariz in Lisbon, will after all remain open. The store owner told the PUBLIC that he was contacted by a representative of the new owners of the building, a real estate fund abroad, which gave assurances that the commercial space with a 144-year-old will stay in the place.

“sure, you can have: the shop is not going to get out of here, and the project of the building includes the maintenance of the space”, said the representative of the fund, Ana Martins, who explained to the PUBLIC that now begins a period of negotiations between the two parties.

Tobacco shop in Lisbon’s historic closes doors 144 years later

the closure of The century-old cigar store had been confirmed on Wednesday to the end of the afternoon, after some time of conversations between Ana Martins and the landlord, that he did not want to renew the lease.

The new owner of the Palace Sandomil, where the shop is, you want to transform the property into a set of luxury apartments. The rehabilitation project, approved by the Municipal Chamber of Lisbon in the past year, “presupposes the maintenance of the three commercial spaces” that exist there, explained to the PUBLIC the vice-president of the municipality, Duarte Cordeiro. Only that “the owner had no notion of the framework” of the tobacco that integrates, since last Summer, the list of “Shops with” a History of the capital. When he was alerted to this fact, “the owner showed interest” in maintaining the commercial space, said the mayor.

Ana Martins is now waiting for the negotiation with the landlord, but he says he is relieved. “At least we no longer have that ‘not’ round,” he said.

Duarte Lamb stresses that “the camera had already taken care of the protection” of the Tobacconist Martins on the occasion of the licensing of the works project. The alderman, responsible for the program “Shops with History”, considers that the project “makes sense”, but asks the Parliament to take effective measures for the protection of establishments with tradition.

The “Shopping Story”, a program that the city of Lisbon launched in 2016, and of which they are a part of 63 spaces, “came to show”, believes the mayor, that “it is possible to do this classification in a consistent and rigorous”. And, now, “it is essential that there is a change in the law” that define a set of protection mechanisms, he adds. “We hope that will continue to exist, this good sense” on the part of the owners of the buildings, Duarte says Lamb. But while the subject matter is not legislated, the common sense is even the only defence of the historic shops.

The Parliament, on the initiative of a set of members of PS, is discussing a draft law on this subject almost a year ago. The document is in the Committee of the Environment, spatial Planning, Decentralization, Local government and Housing since April.

The chamber of Lisbon set out in September that a part of funds obtained through the tourist tax will serve to create lines of financing in the framework of the “Shops” with a History”. It is also envisaged the establishment of an own fund of 250 thousand euros, designed to support the establishments that need it. Lack of approval of the municipal assembly.