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The pandemic dictated the closure of two historic cafes in Porto, both belonging to the Barrias group: Majestic and Guarany.
The Majestic, on Rua de Santa Catarina, closed yesterday, and the Guarany, on Avenida dos Aliados, had already closed on November 15. The lack of customers, mainly due to the sharp drop in tourism, motivated the decision. Manager Fernando Barrias promises to reactivate the business as soon as the conditions are met, but does not commit to a date. Workers go to layoff.
“I am optimistic. The pandemic will pass. We will survive this. Our ancestors also went through difficult stages,” confesses Fernando Barrias.
About to enter the centenarians’ club, since it opened in December 1922, throughout its almost 100 years the Majestic has never had a stop of this type. “Not even in World War II, when I had to pay a fee to open,” he says.
In fact, at its own choice, the emblematic establishment of Santa Catarina has never stopped receiving customers. Only for extraordinary causes, which had to do with the restoration, between October 1992 and July 1994, and the closure decreed by the Government, between March 14 and May 25 of this year, in the first wave of covid was interrupted.
On the verge of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, traditionally fertile times in terms of economic dynamism, the closing of doors, both for Majestic and for Guarany, may surprise, but a combination of factors left the management with no alternative.
150 go to dismissal
“There are no planes, there are no tourists. The restrictions determined by the Government and the General Directorate of Health are not favorable either. In addition, the increase in teleworking leaves many people who came to offices at home. And there are no residents in Baixa. ”Explains the manager, who, with the increase in foreign visitors, reached 70 people in line, waiting for a place at the Majestic.
“Right now it would be generating expenses and losses. It does not pay,” he clarifies, pragmatically, eager to “see a vaccine working” and to restore “the confidence of the people to do their daily work.”
The brake in the Barrias group extends to the Marbella cafeteria, also on Rua de Santa Catarina, and to the Confeitaria Eça, in Antas. The same applies to the Internacional and Vera Cruz hotels. Everything is closed and 150 workers are laid off. Only the Pão de Açúcar and Aliados hotel units continue to operate. The Plaza de los Aliados, “a superior four-star hotel with 97 rooms, will continue under construction, since the contract was signed before the pandemic.”
Crisis in the center of Porto
In the field of restoration, and looking at the reality of downtown Porto, the situations experienced in Majestic and Guarany are not isolated cases. By way of example, it is enough to recall other historical spaces, such as Café Ceuta, which has been inactive for a year, Estrela d “Ouro in continuous degradation and Aviz, which has already laid off employees, without knowing how long it will be able to resist.
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