Hi my name is Sue - how do you do!! My husband and I and our 26 year old son are hoping to relocate at the end of this year and lease a cafe/bar (to start with). We are hoping to head for the Costs Calida - Mar Menor region. Do you think we can make a go of it and is there an all year round season. Our son is a qualified chef but we really dont want to run a restaurant. Any help would be very much appreciated please.

Sue
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Hi Sue,

We visit Murcia and the Costa Calida quite frequently, the area around San Javier is seasonal and a lot quieter from Oct-April, and very spanish, further towards Torravieja there is a larger gathering of ex pats., The La Manga strip is very built up and touristy. We have no experience of Cafe/bars but obviously they are very different in Spain, mainly tappas etc. Inland where we have our house there are a variety of restaurants with great menus at a reasonable price. The other factor is the times the Spanish eat, if we eat at 9pm the places are usually dead only getting busy at about 11pm.

As for making a go of it i would think location and client base would be a factor ex-pats or Spanish and the obviously the language. One thing i am sure of is that the best way to get on in Spain is to run your own business as jobs are far few and far between. There's a saying Ive heard a few times "the only way to be a millionaire in Spain is to arrive with 2 ". Still we intend to give it a go in the near future, if you don't try you'll never know. I run a successful business in the UK and a lot of making a success is down to the individual, what works for some wont for others even in identical situations.

Good luck

Paul

Thank you for the info. We are all prepared to work hard (this time for us and not for other people). Ian and I are going out at the end of this month to have a look around at the different areas around the Mar Menor and then all three of us are going out again in October.

Hi we are going out too that area next week to have a look at the opportunities that may be available, we come back on the 19th August I will let you know OK.

Many thanks, look forward to hearing from you.

We covered everwhere on the mar menor and most of costa colida and just over the border to south costa blanca and i am afraid to say that apart from the fruit and Veg industry with greenhouses amass theres not much there!

Just goes to show that eveyone is different - we arrived back last night having absolutely loved the area except for The Strip which was were we stayed and didn't really like!

The Strip = La Manga, I take it - together with it's horrendous summer traffic jams

Hi

We are purchasing a property inland in the Murcia region, approximately 20 mins south of the city of Murcia. Murcia is being developed with new estates being built many around golf courses. It is being called the new "Costa del Golf". While it is a quiet region at the moment I think in the future it will be much more popular. They must be expecting the region to grow because there is a new international airport being built at Cordoba, there is already one at San Javier, and 7 new schools being planned for the Murcia region.

It could be a good idea if you are planning to run your own business to get in there now otherwise others will.

Corvera, I believe. San Javier will most likely return to just being a military airport.

Murcia was, as I understand it, the autonomous community with the second highest economic growth rate in Spain, last year. If you see only tomatoes and greenhouses, then you haven't gone very far inland past San Javier

The last i heard the proposed and by now well overdue airport at corvera had been shelved.

That surprises me, where did you hear that information? And is it true?

According to thisSITE its still on the cards as of update today.

Thanks for the reply. I would think the Regional President of Murcia will be correct.

They have been saying that for the last 4 years should have been open by now according to original plans, still this is Spain so another 3 years seems right, flights will be dearer than SJV or Alicante due to location, so an extra 20mins to SJV won't matter, thats if they ever build corvera