Vila Real de Santo António’s municipal market is to have a €425,000 make-over which includes turning part of the building into a restaurant and leisure zone.
The four month job includes replacing the old roof, remodeling the sales spaces and the toilets, painting inside and out and the improvement of the drainage.
At the same time, a new concept is being created that will see the opening of a new restaurant and leisure area in the south wing, open for extended hours, with new products and services on offer.
For Luís Romão, vice-president of VRSA council, "the work is a long-desired ambition, offering better conditions for those who buy, sell and visit."
"We want to make the market more attractive and more dynamic so that people return to this space that will be not only a place of commerce, but also of leisure," said Romão.
The market will remain open throughout the refurb and the council said it also wants to install permanent and temporary exhibitions in the market that refer to the history of the city, especially its canning industry.
