At issue is the closure of Mercearia do Bolhão, a store which has been operational for 144 in the centre of downtown Porto, to make way for a store belonging to the Spanish Ale-Hop chain, as reported by Porto Canal last Friday.

Asked about the closure, the councillor responsible for the Economy, Ricardo Valente, said it was "extremely unfair to have created a topic" around the closure.

"It is extremely unfair because we have 108 establishments in the city in the Porto Tradição program. It is extremely unfair because we are the only city in the country that has half a million euros per year allocated to support these traditional stores and it is extremely unfair because this gentleman [ owner] has a store that never sought to be protected by Porto Tradição", he observed.

According to Ricardo Valente, the municipality can do nothing to avoid the closure of the century-old store, scheduled for April 30th.

"We have been talking to the central government for seven years from the point of view of economic regulation related to commerce and nightlife activities, which are the two major activities that are part of what constitutes the development of the city", he observed, highlighting that the municipality has been demanding this right from the Government.

Defending the need to end with zero licensing, Ricardo Valente stated that municipalities must have the power, within the Municipal Master Plan (PDM), to regulate the opening of certain commercial activities, but that this can only happen with a legislative change.