Almost a century old, the Buraquinho do Freixo tavern sees progress advance and with it the destruction of the space, led by Alberto Sousa e Silva over the last 40 years. The silence of the AVAN Norte consortium (Mota-Engil, Teixeira Duarte, Alves Ribeiro, Casais, Conduril and Gabriel Couto), Alberto Sousa e Silva told Agência Lusa, “has not been correct”, complaining that he found out about the news about his own property “through the news”, and “only then did some gentlemen come”, around two months ago. “I know almost nothing. It’s often said that the horny guy is the last to know”, the business manager, accustomed to serving the local community and workers, from construction workers to drivers, tells Lusa out of the blue.
ASH HOLE
JOSÉ COELHO
Owner of the space and resident of the house above the establishment – both are part of the same building at the intersection between Rua da China and Rua do Freixo -, Alberto Sousa e Silva, aged 70, is surprised by the progress of the high-speed line project, which, however, still needs approval from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP).
The Environmental Compliance Report of the Execution Project (RECAPE) of the Porto-Oiã section confirms the forecast of demolition of houses on Rua da China and Travessa da Presa da Agra, right below the current train line, which will be expanded for the new project. The community’s reaction to the news has also been “bad”, “These are people who have lived here for 40 and 50 years, elderly people, they are always there with their hearts in their hands, asking this one and that one”, he reports, saying that “we walk here and we don’t know if it’s going here, if it’s going there, when it is or when it isn’t”, he says.
Freixo Hole
For the restaurant manager, “this is wrong” and is “playing with people”, waiting to see if the line’s builders “compensate him enough”. “If I have to go, let it be now, to sort out my life. At this age, 70 years old, what am I going to do? I have a house, I work more or less, thank God, and where am I going to go now? It’s complicated”, he concludes.
Freixo neighborhood
JOSÉ COELHO
O Freixo Hole(Rua do Freixo, 1495, Porto. Tel. 911121144) has a typically neighborhood and family atmosphere. It serves homemade meals (from €8.25) and various snacks, such as snacks, rojões and pout. There are “Tripas” and “Calhos”, the name given to beef with chickpeas, house specialties. Another attraction of the establishment is the “Rancho”, on the menu on Mondays.