On the 17th December 1921, café Majestic opened in Porto. It was located in Santa Catarina street, a pedestrian walkway for shopping and for the finest members of society, then and now. The café enlightened the street with its Art Nouveau decoration, by architect João Queiroz.

The opening day, which has become a distant memory, has always been remembered by the city. Appealing to intellectuals, bohemians and to the ladies of high society, when on a walkabout, would sit to drink tea or eat an ice cream. Soon the most influential figures of Porto became regular customers of the café. José Régio, Teixeira de Pascoaes and Leonardo Coimbra, among others, gave this establishment the necessary literary standing to foster vivid debates between public figures and soon-to-be-famous characters, on the most important political, social and philosophical issues of the time.

Amongst the famous guests was J. K. Rowling. They sat that when the writer was living in Porto, she spent much of her time at the Majestic working on the first book of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”