Today I enter is-suq tal-Belt, on Merchants’ Street. A sad place, quiet, only a dozen elderlies shuffle in and out of the few remaining shops. A young man, one of the new shop owners, climbs, in big steps, up the escalator. It doesn’t function any more. The floor is grimy, its tiles cracked or missing. The windows, some missing panes, are encrusted with dirt, evidently they haven’t been cleaned in years. Cobwebs grace the elegant, cast iron structure, rusting and blackened with filth. Almost half of the shops are closed – some went out of business, others lost their owners.
“This, without a doubt, is one of the most important industrial, heritage buildings of the British period still standing in Malta,” says Ray Bondin, Coordinator of the Valletta and Floriana Rehabilitation Committee, “and yet I find it is very undervalued”.
Up until as little as 20 years ago, the closed market was buzzing with activity, a popular and central place to shop for meat, fish and groceries. Bondin identifies two reasons behind the market’s present state. Dom Mintoff’s intervention in 1982 is one. The market’s activities were moved to Floriana back then, and the suq became the infamous Ixtri Malti – a ‘showroom’ of Maltese produce – which soon proved to be unsuccessful. With the government’s change in the early 90s came the return of the suq to its original site in Valletta. “The pattern of its use, however, had changed by then,” explains Bondin. “When the suq returned, its popularity had dwindled.”

But, according to Bondin, the market’s deterioration is also due to the fact that the Valletta population is ageing and, even if most of the older generation still uses the market, this is in decline, resulting in less sales. “Nowadays most people prefer shopping at the supermarket.”
Dating back to the 19th century, the covered market is over 140 years old, and yet it still retains its original structure, unique to the island in its style. However, amendments that were made to its structure in the 80s were not at all sympathetic to its original style. The change in the internal structure of the market from a single-floor with a high, open-space ceiling, to one with three floors did not complement its historic character. Over 100 shops, selling all kinds of produce, were clustered happily on one floor – narrow corridors lined by a series of shop counters on each side, with tiny shops stretched behind them – and this in itself created its unique character. Other additions, such as the aluminium doors, clashed hideously with its style, stripping it of its former, quaint charm.
Shop owner, George Baldacchino, now turning 60, has been working at the market for the past 45 years. He recalls better times. “It just doesn’t feel like a market any more. These are like 30 ‘offices’ within a building. It should be changed to its original arrangement. This is a historic place, and that’s how it should remain.”
“I have tried to suggest ways to restore the market to its former glory, maybe with an exhibition of historical artefacts, linked to the market, but no one pays much attention to what we have to say, even though we’re the ones who actually work here.”
“We’ve been neglected,” he continues. He points upwards. “We’ve been asking for better ventilation, simply by sliding open the windows, for 20 years now. In summer, the smell from the meat shops rises to the second floor and just lingers on. It’s unbearable. There are no public toilets. The only one is the watchman’s, hardly fit for use by the customers. When it rains, you can’t walk in here without an umbrella. The roof leaks. Abandonment,” Baldacchino concludes.
According to Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier, “the market experienced a fatal blow when Mintoff intervened, because he deformed the character and identity of the market”. Now, he explains, the market is the Lands Department’s responsibility, not the Valletta Council’s. Borg Olivier knows of no proposal by the Government to attempt the market’s renovation, and believes the problem lies with its ownership.
“It’s as though the place has no owner. The Council doesn’t own it. The shop owners try to own it, but they have no title over it, nor the funds to do so. They pay rent to the Lands Department, but the Lands, in turn, doesn’t assume its ownership. The market is like a ship, abandoned by its captain.”
The Council has been trying to push for a serious rehabilitation project, but it’s been a struggle even to convince the authorities to change the rusting gutter that goes all round the building. “We’ve had serious problems even to get its basic maintenance seen to. We’ve left such an important site to deteriorate.”
The council has been offered to take the market under its wing, however this requires a minimum of Lm100,000 to go towards its maintenance and rehabilitation. “Basically, the Government has to make the financial commitment,” says Borg Olivier.
Though the mayor is aware of the priorities that precede the market, he believes the way forward is to create an outreach policy and commercialise the market. “We should look at the market as a very small, public/private partnership. The space can generate economic activity. It is the gauge of a social hub, part and parcel of Valletta’s social life.”

The social spirit of the market could be revived, retaining its original function while introducing new, attractive elements, according to Borg Olivier. “Why not introduce a florist, a newsagent, restaurants… Turn the open, central space into an atrium, where street performers and a band could play? The space can be animated.”
Bondin, however, has different views. “I think that in a few years’ time the market will not sustain its function any more. The shops are struggling for survival and it’s about time we start thinking of another use for the market.”
He tells me of the Valletta Rehabilitation Committee’s preparation of a final report for a proposal that aims to preserve the market’s structure. “For years now, we have been discussing Valletta’s need for more exhibition space. St James Cavalier is booked for months ahead. In my opinion, the market should eventually be turned into a small cultural centre. It would be an excellent site for contemporary art exhibitions, especially for installations because of its open space and high ceiling.”
I bring up the argument that one of the artists’ main complaints about St James is that its internal architecture is not neutral enough, upstaging their works. How does he foresee these problems being avoided, when the primary aim would be the same preservation of the market’s 19th century style and structure? Bondin insists that all additions of recent years will be cleaned out, so that the market becomes one large, open space which can be flexibly organised for the artist’s needs.

Borg Olivier, on the other hand, is not aware of the proposal. He is clearly surprised, and doesn’t agree with the idea. “I do agree that we should introduce cultural elements, but not kill the market… It has always played a central role at the heart of this city. It’s where people converge, where the trading is done. A market is where culture, in its widest sense, occurs. It is a theatrical act in itself. I would say let’s regenerate the market, while introducing other forms of activity that complement its existing function, without interfering with its identity.”
Similar markets, built in the same period, exist all over Europe, some of which are still utilised today, like the ones in Cork and in Stockport, which retain their original function of selling organic food and traditional goods.
And is-suq tal-Belt? One wonders what its fate will be…