My wife & i have visited lanzarote almost every year on holiday over the last 7 years & every year we come home it gets harder & harder to leave and after this years hols in June it was even harder infact we have decided we are wanting to move out before the end of the year,Our house is up for sale & We would like to buy the lease on a bar, we will be coming back over before the end of september to look at a few bars & some flats to rent, What we need to know is can we make a living, We both have experiance in working in bars as my wifes parents have always had bars, infact they now run there own bar in murcia, We know it will be hard work but we both work hard here so its not that which is causing us to worry we just need to know if we sell everything here & spend about 40k euros on a bar we hopefully will be able to make a living, I think what i need to know is, is there enough holiday makers still going to lanzarote so we can make a living, we dont want to be millionaires but we do want be able eventually with hard work buy a flat or house and put money away so we can retire & enjoy or retirement in Lanzarote, I have checked a few other sites & a lot of them seem to be doom & gloom i need to hear from some people who have taken the plunge and made a life for themselves in Lanzarote.

Any advice would be great.

oh p.s we are both learning a little spanish or somos ambos que aprenden un poco español.

God i hope thats correct but knowing my luck i have just insulted someones mother

I can't help with the Lanzarote side of things, as I have no idea about Lanzarote - although you do seem to have the right attitude, and at elast you have experience in the industry



but who the heck is teaching you spanish!!!???

you didn't insult anyone - but you said nothing like what you wanted to, either


assuming you want to say 'we are both learning spanish'

we are using a home study course using cd's which is ok for me as i can listen to them while im driving my truck, As you can see i need a lot of work.

JUst out of interest what did i say & was it even close to what i wanted it to say

what you did was translate word for word - which is why I knew what you wanted to say!

somos - we are
ambos - both
que – that or qué - what
aprenden - they learn
un poco - a little
español - spanish

you should never translate word for word - and you don't need to - often one word will do for two - particularly with verbs

there are two verbs 'to be' ser & estar - you used ser but need estar for this

estoy - I am
estas - you are
esta - he/she/it is
estamos - we are
estáis - you are (plural)
estan - they are

you should have said

(nosotros) estamos aprendiendo hablar español
You don’t need the nosotros because

estamos = we are
aprendiendo = learning
hablar = to speak
español = spanish



and that's the free lesson for today folks!!!

I will read your reply sometime tomorrow when the several bottles of beer have worn off

Thanks for the free lesson.

Only several????
You need more practice!

Now 11 bottles of beer & still praceass, practasiiing,praktesi, oh sod it still trying to drink more

Ahh thats more like it.
You just know you have to practice hard of you are going to open a bar abroad

Or a touch of Spanglish like some well drunk Brits on their first night in Spain.

Excusio,I am lostio and slightly p!sstio and cant find my hotelio.

Met a guy on the prom in Benidorm a few year back who was looking a bit rough and ragged.
His story was that straight away on the first night just after arrival he had gone out and downed quite a few pints but then had no idea where his hotel was or even what it was called.
He had spent 3 days and nights wandering up and down the prom and sleeping rough on the beach.
Another guy with me at the time came up with the brilliant suggestion that he should try phoning his wife back in the UK to see if she could advise him.

Met him again next day problem solved,but what his Mrs back in the UK must have thought doesnt bear thinking about.
Probably never ever again let him out by himself I should imagine.---

If you can make a good living from a bar in Spain you are one in a thousand ,fact! ,If you really really really want a bar and find one dont part with a penny until you have worked there with the current owner for at least a month , it`s the only way you will get to know the REAL turnover , then do some cash flow forecasts, you will then realise it is a waste of time, fantasy business`s have a habit of becoming a nightmare!!
If a bar is closed down its only worth the fixtures and fittings value, usually a couple hundred euro!!then youve got weeks/months of waiting to get licenses etc!!

Dont forget that you would be competing with Spanish who proberly own the bar with no mmortgage they employ their family and pay them next to nowt!

The only way youd stand a chance in this industry is if you are an exceptional chef and have a bar restaurant even then not easy or guaranteed successful|_
Rgds

Rotor

Very true Rotor,and I would also add, be prepared to work all the hours that God sends.
You may think you are finished when you get the last customer out the door at 2 or 3 in the morning,then tidy up,get all the rubbish out and make the place secure and finally get to bed.
Then you got to be ready for early morning deliveries to be checked and sorted,scrub the place out, clean and prepare the equipment,toilets and the rest and be ready to meet the first customer of the day with a nice big smile.
Wish you the Best of British.