The premises seen here on the left hand side which is situated on the corner is today the Malta Labour Party Club. This place has quite a long history. Going back to the early 1930s it was named The Smiling Prince Hotel. The Scicluna family owned and operated the Hotel. It was later operated as a Bar and was a favourite spot for most English Royal Navy and Royal Air Force servicemen to meet and enjoy a drink and a chat. It remained open right throughout the years of WW2.
Sometime about 1939 the Maltese Government installed a Redifusion set / speakers right at the doorway of this Hotel and the daily news service was broadcast and heard at about 7pm every evening. In those days very few people owned a wireless /radio so every evening a small crowd of local men used to gather outside the Hotel to listen to the daily News.
At some time during WW2 the place was also used by the English Military and just after WW2 ended it was used as a school for a brief period.
During the late 1930s and before WW2 started the Scicluna family had a small monkey that used to be kept on the balcony tied by a long light chain. The monkey used to ran across the front edge of the balcony and people used to throw peanuts up onto the balcony for the monkey.
Over the years the front doorway / entrance to the Bar was altered. On the other corner, again going back to the mid 1930s was the Central Bar which was owned and operated by the Dalli Family. The man who ran the Bar was Gillian Dalli and his wife Vanda also ran the Bar when Gillian passed away. They used to make delicious ice cream on the premises. The place was also used by the St Peters Football Club for a short period.
The street that seperates the two Bars is Addolorata Street / Our Lady of Sorrows Street that ends up at Tanks Street.
