Lagos’ municipal market celebrates its 100th anniversary in January.
This month, Lagos celebrates the centenary of the Avenida municipal market. The facility was constructed in the first quarter of the 20th century (1923/1924), however the official inauguration took place the following year, on 15 January 1925. A plaque will be unveiled to commemorate the centenary.
Two researchers, Artur de Jesus and Francisco Castelo, consulted historical records to write a commemorative book Mercado Municipal da Avenida (1924) – Um Mercado Centenário, to mark the occasion.
Formerly Praça da Fruta, the Avenida municipal market is divided into three floors. Fish and meat stalls occupy the ground floor, while the second floor has a café, shops, and stalls selling fruit, vegetables and other regional products. On the third floor, there is a restaurant and a terrace overlooking the promenade and the bay of Lagos. There is pedestrian access to the Science Museum (Centro Ciência Viva de Lagos) from the back of the market.
The first market in Lagos was built by the local câmara (council) in 1850, close to the Paços do Concelho building. It served as a fish market until 1904, when another building was built nearby (to the north) for this purpose, and the original one became a temporary fruit and vegetable market.
In August 1923, Lagos council decided to buy land next to this building as well as an adjacent property which, since 1885, had housed a fish canning factory owned by the French firm J. Labrouche. The following year, preparations were made to open the new fruit market, including designing new gates and tiling the building’s façade, as well as creating a new entrance at the Porta de Portugal. The market was recognised as being of great importance to Lagos. The technical director of the works was Jaime José.
With the redevelopment of the former canning factory – which had ceased operating after a fire around 1915 – the 1850 market was demolished. The fish market, built in 1904 and overlooking the river, remained until it was demolished in 1958 to build the Avenida dos Descobrimentos. After that, the market in Rua Porta de Portugal was also used to sell fish.
Between 2003 and 2004, the building was remodelled to make it more user-friendly. The original features were retained while the rear wall was extended by five metres. The construction of this additional space was complicated by the presence of the Casa Fogaça, now the Living Science Centre, at a higher level – it was crucial not to destabilise that building during the remodelling of the market. Several safety, hygiene and quality problems were resolved at the same time.
Article 1.0: The New Municipal Market in this city is intended for the sale of fruit, vegetables, olives, poultry, game, meat, sweets, flowers, green and dried vegetables, crockery, eggs, cheese and any other foodstuffs or objects that the City Council deems appropriate to be sold there.
A hundred years after its conception, the Avenida Municipal Market is not only a place to buy and sell food but is also a place where Lagos residents meet and socialise. From time to time, it hosts cultural and recreational events which contribute to the liveliness of the historic centre. This makes it an excellent place for tourists to enjoy the Algarve way of life. To mark this important milestone in the market’s life, some events will take place in January, such as a cooking show, a guitar show and a guided tour.
The Mayor of Lagos, Hugo Pereira, wrote a foreword to the book:
“There are places in a city that are meeting and living spaces par excellence. The market is one of these places, where people get to know each other and intersperse the hustle and bustle of shopping with a chat, be it with the vendors, the neighbourhood or people they meet by chance.
“If the walls could talk, those of the Lagos Municipal Market would tell us many stories. Stories of the times when the city overlooked the sea, of the times when life was hard and painful for most of the population, when we ate what the land produced locally each season and the sea let us catch., Stories of the times when communication and transport routes were scarce and rudimentary, when almost all people knew each other and visitors were occasional. A lot separates us from those times, but the municipal market is still there, renovated, adapted to new tastes and demands, welcoming those who dedicate their lives to the fresh food trade and receiving customers who, despite the current proliferation of commercial spaces and diversification of the offer, still seek out the oldest market in Lagos in operation.”
With thanks to Câmara Municipal de Lagos for allowing us to source information from this commemorative book.
Events
Organised as part of the Avenida Market Centenary and the 452nd anniversary of the elevation of Lagos to a city (1573–2025).
Guitarradas, with Vítor do Carmo, Nuno Martins and António Correia
16 January | 10.30 am
Venue: Avenida Market
Instrumental music session with Vítor do Carmo (Portuguese guitar), Nuno Martins (fado guitar) and António Correia (bass guitar). An initiative organised as part of the centenary of the Avenida Market and the 452nd anniversary of the elevation of Lagos to a city (1573–2025).
Showcooking of Algarvian flavours with Chef Diogo Pereira (Cascade Wellness Resort)
23 January | 10.30am
Venue: Avenida Market
Guided tour from Santo Amaro to Praça do Peixe. A journey through memories with Artur de Jesus.
25 January | 10am
Location: Santo Amaro Market (departure)
Participation is free upon registration using the online form, which will be available on this page.
Meet the Traders
Tomorrow visited the Avenida market to hear the stories of the local traders. To help keep the market and its traditions and stories alive, consider going there to buy your fresh produce and meeting the men and women whose families have worked there for generations.
José Marco de Oliveira Duarte
Originally from Odiáxere, Sr José tells us that the village just outside Lagos used to be called Vietnam by the residents because it was considered to be the ‘Wild West’! The people who lived there were given that nickname to distinguish themselves from the Lacobrigenses.
His family worked in a tavern and grocery store in Rua de Barragem, which also served food. He remembers his mother would serve caldeirada de peixe (fish stew) to the regular customers, such as the street cleaners, farmers or the men who worked on the dam. They would also sell the local abafadinho,a sweet wine served in little glasses like a shot. He recalls how the store would display their produce, onions, garlic and oregano, which were hung outside on poles so people could see what they sold. They also sold tobacco, fruit, vegetables and oils for lamps, as many still didn’t have electricity. He remembers that rabbits were hung up in the square to be eaten, along with live rabbits in cages. José’s father also would farm salt from the Alvor lagoon near their home.
When he was five years old, the family moved to Lagos so that he could attend school. They lived near the army barracks, which in those days still housed 1,200 soldiers. His mother worked in the fish factory for a time (Fabrica do Sr Assunção). They began work in the early morning when the fishing boats arrived. He remembers that the ladies used to take the leftover small pieces of sardines and mackerel, and his mother would make a big soup and take it to the factory for lunch. His parents still continued to run the tavern, while his father took a stall in the Lagos market and Sr José still owns the old family home in Odiáxere.
Sr José has worked on the stall in the Avenida market for almost 40 years, working initially with his father before he took it over. They initially sold fruit and vegetables, but he has had to evolve. As he says, “No one comes to the market to buy fruit these days and there are so many other markets selling fresh produce. So, I started adding spices from Morocco and Turkey, like saffron, cumin, turmeric and raw cinnamon. And the customers also embraced this change.”
He also sells Portuguese produce, such as alfarrobeira (carob) and piri piri, along with Portuguese preserves, like tinned sardines and high-quality sardine pâté. He also sells the traditional Algarvian teas Bela Luisa and Chá Principe, which he assures me are delicious.
Sr José also reflected on the change in the status of the alfarrobeira fruit. “In the past, it was only for horses and pigs. Now, it’s for the people. The gypsies and the older generation used to come here to sell it to traders, but the authorities now insist that it is bought from a certified grower.”
We are there on a cold December morning, and it is quiet. We ask him if this is normal. “The market only works with tourism in summer. The old people have left,” he tells me. “They used to bring their children and grandchildren, and now the new generation only wants to go to the supermarket.”
Vítor Bengalinha
As a young man, Sr Vítor served in the Guerra Ultramar (Portuguese colonial wars). While he was with the army in Mozambique, he was contacted by a friend who had a butcher’s stall in the market. “He asked if I wanted to come and work with him at the end of the commission.” When he arrived home from Mozambique in January 1973, Vítor immediately took up the offer of work.
His new employer, Sr Mário Dias, already had enormous prestige in the city, and his father had the stall before him. “He said he would help me. He was an extraordinary person who gave me the chance to stay with him.”
Sr Vítor is proud that he has been self-employed for 50 years and that his son is working with him. “I like being here, I have many friends, and every customer is a friend.” But Sr Vítor is worried that the next generation does not want to take over. “There were six of us here; they’ve all gone.” Sr Vítor observes that the shop next door is unused and he wanted to take it over to prepare meat, but he needed to put a door between the two premises. His application was refused by the administration which frustrated him.
All his meats are fresh and Portuguese. Some come from the Algarve and some from the Alentejo. His customers are a mix of Portuguese and tourists. He lists all the nationalities he serves: “English, French, Dutch, Belgians, Spanish, Italians.” He is busiest in the summer months, July, August and September, but trade also picks up around Christmas, New Year and Easter.
Along with other market traders, Sr Dias is frustrated that strict parking restrictions outside the market are having a significant impact on their trade. “I’m absolutely certain, from my experience here at the balcão, that more than 90% of the people who frequent the market have already been fined, so they don’t come and there is no place for loading or unloading.”
Bibiana Maria da Silva de Jesus Gonçalves
Sra Bibiana has worked in the market for 38 years, and her stall is one of the oldest. Her family is French, and she was born there. However, when her mother got ill with bad lungs, the doctor told them to move to a warmer climate, so her parents moved to Portugal.
Bibiana was a hairdresser in France but left for Portugal to reunite with her parents. Here, she met her husband. She started selling fish in the market to help her father “without knowing what a fish was”. Her husband worked in the fish factory belonging to Sr Pimenta, which was subsequently closed, so he became unemployed. He also started working with them in the market before Bibiana eventually took over from her father.
Bibiana sells only local fish she buys at the fish market when the boats come in. She tells me that the Portuguese love horse mackerel (carapão) and sardines. She also sells a lot of fanecas (pout fish), which are delicious when rolled in flour and then fried. If anyone wishes to visit her stall in January, she says it is a good time to buy, as the fish are fatter. Ask her for sargo (bream), dourada (golden bream) and robalo (sea bass).
I ask her about the gastronomic evolution of the sardines. “Previously, the sardine was a poor man’s fish. Not any more. Now it belongs to the rich!” She notes that sardines have increased in price a lot. But she puts this down to increased demand and less sardines. “There aren’t as many sardines or choco (cuttlefish) as there used to be. On our coast, we had choco all year round. This summer, we didn’t have any. I asked the fishermen why, and they said it was because of the dolphins. Why? They say the dolphins eat the little black choco eggs and they eat the sardines.”
But she sees that the demand in the market is decreasing, which she puts down to the fact that there is no parking. She is also cross that the gypsy market sellers on the main Avenida occupy all of the parking spaces, which she believes should be used for the public to do their shopping. She argues that there should be a period in the morning for free parking so people can pop in and buy from the market.
Although Bibiana is a pensioner at 68, she says she still works because she couldn’t live on her pension alone. Even after all these years, Bibiana enjoys her work. “I like it very much. I like going to the fish market and seeing the fish. Going to see the boats. What they catch, what they don’t catch. And I like serving people the freshest catch.”
Main photo: Facade of the Municipal Market in 2024 – Francisco Castelo / Lagos Municipal Photo Library
