The building where, until the end of December, the Mercearia da Ponte operated, in Aljezur, and which was owned by the local council, was demolished last night, by order of the local authority.
The demolition, which took place at night so as not to cause traffic difficulties, as the building was located right on the edge of the EN120, as it crosses the village of Aljezur, was accompanied on the spot by the municipal executive and many inhabitants, most of them contesting the initiative.
"It reminded me of public executions at the time of the Inquisition, with the people and the executioners watching…a sadness," he lamented, speaking to the Sul Informação, Susana Lopes, daughter of the owner of Mercearia da Ponte.
It took just over two hours to, in the words of Susana Lopes, «reduce to dust the building and with it all the memories that lived there, of the former owners of the establishments that operated there over time, of their customers, of the residents, of tourists…».
As our newspaper reported in October, the Aljezur Chamber ordered the closing of the Bridge Grocery , the only and oldest grocery store in the town, to demolish the building where the establishment was located.
José Amarelinho, president of the municipality, said then that the decision was based on the conclusions of a "report prepared by the technical services of the Chamber, which points to the imminent collapse of the building."
In November, a precautionary measure filed by António Guerreiro Lopes, owner of the grocery store, still tried to stop the decision, but without effect. In late December, the establishment, which employed nine people, closed its doors forever.
But the decision of the local authority to demolish the building was not taken without causing a wave of protest among the population, with even a online petition the circular, which reached 1101 signatures.
Susana Lopes, who is the most inconsolable of all the contestants, told the Sul Informação that “such a demolition is only considered when the project that it replaces, that comes to occupy the void left, pays off. And, unfortunately, urban projects that make sense and compensate for this type of decision and others like that, in Aljezur there is not a single example».
"Any land, especially small ones, live and persist thanks to its history, its memories, its material and immaterial heritage," he added.
Susana Lopes underlined, on the other hand, that the City Council proceeded with the demolition allegedly to “facilitate traffic. It's not even solving, it's just making it easier, because I don't see the disappearance of the building magically making the bridge wider. That's the real problem with traffic there: the dimension of the bridge. Therefore, it was important to know which plans of the municipality have not been revealed until now!».
In mid-December, at the inauguration of the repaving of the Aljezur/Marmelete road, the President of the Chamber José Amarelinho revealed to Sul Informação having discussed with the president of Estradas de Portugal «the creation of another bridge, only for pedestrians, next to the bridge of Aljezur», integrated in the EN120. "It is an ambition that we have, to build this bridge only for pedestrians, because this will considerably improve the safety conditions, since, nowadays, the bridge being so narrow, people circulate there with some danger."
Interestingly, less than 20 meters from the narrow road bridge of Aljezur there is already another pedestrian bridge over the stream.
Amarelinho always declined to admit, in statements to our newspaper, that the demolition of the Mercearia da Ponte building had something to do with an attempt to solve the problems of traffic on the EN120, on the section where this national road crosses the town. But last night, during the demolition operation, that was the main reason given for the council's decision.
Without the building on the corner of the road, which is actually a street, local authorities now hope that the lorries that cross Aljezur will be easier to maneuver, avoiding the traffic jams, which are constant, especially in the summer. right after the curve, the lorries face the narrow bridge over the Aljezur stream. And this one remains the same width, very narrow.
A problem that would apparently only be solved with the construction of the called Variant of Aljezur, a work proposed by the Chamber but which, for crossing the fertile floodplain and destroying the landscape, has also been the object of strong popular protest.
As for shopping, the inhabitants of Aljezur, tourists and vacationers continue to be able to shop at the Senhor Lopes grocery store, which now operates in a much smaller space, close to the Post Office and on the same street, but on the opposite side. With this grocery store, António Lopes managed to keep three of his former employees and continues to offer the same quality of products, many of them from Aljezur.
Note: The demolition photos (during and after) are from Cassar Photography, from Aljezur, to whom the Sul Informação thanks you for providing the images.
Corrected at 20:00 pm, changing the last paragraph to include updated information about Mr. Lopes' new grocery store.
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