Why aren't there any in Spain? Or are there..just not on the CdS? Someone mentioned it might be the mushrooming requirement for licences?

Perhaps the longer warm season makes running an ice cream shop more viable (although I'm sure some fall by the way side), and thus take the market ? In the UK, especially with the astronomical high street rent and rates, few would open an ice cream shop when a bad year can mean no summer. Therefore the flexibility of a van makes more sense?
Interesting question, come to think of it.

I initially wondered if it might be because no van would cope with frozen storage in the extremes of temperature we experience, and/or with storing enough for the likely level of sales....

It's the licenses you just can not get, I know Spanish who have been trying for years, seems daft here doesn't it

Ok so possibly stupid question time, but what licences and why are they difficult? I mean I know bureaucracy damned bureaucracy and Spanish......... but ??

To set up any (or some) business here you need a license, this is also food handling business, I got my certificate from a college in Almeria, and have applied for this and other food businesses in 4 or 5 different places, still waiting for an interview with the Mayors as (They said) this is a new concept lol

A friend of ours started up with an ice cream van but only lasted less than a year!

The Spanish just don't buy their ice cream that way, they would much rather sit at a table and be served there ice cream there.
It is the Spanish way to eat in one bar and then move to another for ice cream and coffee, the very ideal of buying one from a van and eating it in the street is beyond their comprehension.

Hi

When I first moved here in 2003, there was a frozen food van that came round and you could buy a box of ice creams, but I haven´t seen it for years.

Davexf

OK well I get that - but despite the downturn you still see a lot of furriners buying lollies/ices for the beach and I'd have thought they'd be happy to buy from a van.. (which in turn might encourage the odd Spaniard to try it?!) ....it'd be very seasonal like in the UK if it was only dealing with tourists. But if licences are a nightmare, that is probably sufficient explanation.

There is an ice cream van in the Santa Pola/La Marina/Guardamar area. The lady who runs it seems to have all the licences and makes a success of her business.

I think it is a very "English" thing to have ice cream vans all over the place with mind bending and inane tones (which ISTR are copyrighted )
In the same way as fish and chips in a newspaper - they eat fish, they eat chips, just do it properly as a meal

Brits are too far down the "casual" line which the Spanish, and ISTR the Italians, havent even looked at. They make an event of every meal, take their time, and enjoy the company, the wine, the food, in equal amounts.

Venturing into fast food for a moment - looking for a quick cup of coffeee I went into a McDonalds yesterday at 10.00, they were closed until 12.00. Seems the Spanish really don't have the fast food habits of UK and US.

Yes some good comments made about Spanish culture - I would add when my Spanish family come down from Madrid in the summer part of their holiday is indeed to sit and be served ice cream having spent (and enjoying) 10 mins looking at the vast range of ice cream concoctions that are on sale in the huge freezer display cabinets.
Chemical gunk squirted out of a machine into a boring cone would have zero appeal.
The other important point I think about any mobile van based food business is the hygiene aspect in a very hot country as well as the whole idea of a 'moving' business. Being parked static in a market is one thing but driving around the streets is another, in the minds of a Spanish town hall licensing dept.

Yep - no ice cream vans here either.
Of course the Italians are all very proud of their ice cream.
There is nothing wrong with eating one whilst walking down the street, but it will have been bought from an ice cream parlour.

Planty of bars will have a little freezer with the pre-pack ice cream and ice lollies by Nestlè or Algida like Cornetto and tubs of Hello Kitty or whatever is the trend.

I hope that the Spanish culture remains intact and that the ice cream parlours are where people buy their choices and that the ice cream van never gains a foot hold.

Where I lived in the UK the ice cream van came less and less and I cannot remember the last time I heard or saw it just prior to our move so I presume that it was not paying.

Rosemary