Long-awaited Ayios Antonios market officially opens to the public

THE newly renovated Ayios Antonios market, that now successfully combines the traditional with the modern, opened its doors to the public yesterday with an official launch.

“With this project, the area has the chance to regain its vitality and become an important social and commercial area, making an essential contribution to the city,” said Agriculture Minister Sophoclis Aletraris speaking at the opening.

The market underwent a €2 million facelift beginning in March 2010 and was paid for entirely by municipal funds.

The market includes eight independent stores and stalls in the renovated building, a new section selling only perishable items as well as housing a small café. The space as it stood before consisted of about 12 vendors, including fruit and vegetable sellers and butchers.

“The market has been renovated inside and out, and among other things we have installed air conditioning and ventilation, a fire detection system and an innovative waste disposal system,” said Aletraris, adding that the market is now also accessible to disabled people.

More visitors and tourists will be likely to visit the space now, said Aletraris, given its aesthetic and functional surroundings.

Young and old flocked to the opening to try out all the products on offer from the stalls, including organic teas, hand-made soaps, a delicatessen-brasserie, Cypriot handicrafts in cloth, metal and wood. 

“I want to bring something different to the space and would eventually like to turn this into a place where people will come and eat and do wine tasting too,” said Andreas Lordos, owner of Il Paesano, a delicatessen-brasserie filled with various Italian meats, wines and pasta, and which provides the space with a more European feel. 

Julia Astreou Christoforou, who has set up a textile stall, says the market will be good for business. “It gives us an opportunity to sell but it’s also based on tradition and in this way the tradition will continue,” said Christoforou.

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