Help needed if possible i live in Majorca and currently looking at a number of properties with the idea of maybe turning one of them into a small Bar,ive lived in the area for 4 years and have owned a home here for eight years so i have an idea of the season both in and out of the tourist season. One of the places im looking at is currently a Bueaty salon my question is what is the way forward with the correct paperwork i.e what department would i go to at my local town hall ? and can i trade as a bar while my application is being looked at ? many thanks.

Hi.

You are going to need a gestor who will guide you through this.

You need good local information - town halls can work in mysterious local ways. I note you have 4 years local experience but are you sure a bar is a good idea in the current climate? - even the Spanish bars are struggling. (At least in my area - south Alicante)

personal point of view I would never open a bar at the moment, all the local bars I know owners are working all hours and not making a profit they are really struggling at the moment they are either losing money or breaking even.
Sorry to be doom and gloom but its the truth as I see it.
I have found that same bars get taken over for a year or two and change hands.
New owners all the time leave as soon as they find the dream is not working a lot poorer.
Most Spanish bars seem to tick over but they usually own the property that have been established for years and generations of the same families.
Then they don't have leases to pay so their out goings are not so high.
But bear in mind this is just my own personal view I'm no business advisor

not on Majorca, but think it would be better to have a beauty salon or ladies hairdressers, even in these hard times the ladies keep themselves well groomed. If the men haven't got €1.20 for a beer and tapas they go home.
many bars round this way are far quieter than they were 12m ago when I first came out here. One used to have no room at the bar in the 1.30-2.30 period now there is hardly anyone in there.
many bars are only serving bottles no draught, less outlay even if the profit may be slightly smaller its only pennies.

you have obviously looked at your start up costs so you know it is going to take an investment - even if you can keep the fitout style of the beauty bar and just put in a long bar, tables and chairs. But you will have the expense of rows of spirit bottles on the shelves as well as the glasses, the washing up machine(s) the cooking facilities etc. And IIRC you will have to have the relevent hygiene certs etc before you can start serving food.

please, do what you feel is right, but surely there are enough bars with few customers now without you adding to them

best of luck
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An expat bar ? come on , are you serious? , with probably a 99% failure rate it would be more fun and less stressful to sit on the other side of the bar and blow your money that way.
The only expat workers I see still doing okay in Spain are car mechanics , real ones that is .

yes, more fun, less stressful, and probably last a lot longer than if pumping it into an expat moneypit bar.

COBBLERS



seem to be doing a roaring trade at present.
Quite a few shoe repair shops opened up and doing good business, just like it used to be back in Grandads day.
Not everyone can afford to cough up regularly for new footwear these days then throw it away as soon as it's a bit worn or gone out of fashion.

This forum will provide you with tons of great info, there are also the regular doom and gloom merchants who are suddenly experts despite never having been in the industry!! A pub in Spain will not make you rich, consider it a lifestyle, its certainly more fun than running a pub in the UK! To be able to enjoy the lifestyle you need more than anything to make sure you have carefuly looked at your overhead, this includes rent, community fees, any terrace taxes, water, rubbish, electric, social security, etc, etc......are the fees included in your rent, or down to you?? Location is clearly important, take a look around, who is doing well?? After what has happened in Cyprus bricks and mortar are suddenly looking attractive again, can you afford to buy the freehold of the property???? If you can & the price is right then you really cant go far wrong as you would be trading ¨rent free¨ and able to close in the quiet months without worrying about paying monthly rents that come with trespasos! A pub in Spain in the sunshine is what you make of it, a big overhead and bad location are the 2 main killers!! Good luck!

The more optomistic reply from someone trying to offload a pub.

Dick, would you please ask my local zapatero why he has closed his shop and retrenched to the garage under his house, which is 2 villages away.
Especially as I have a pair of functional shoes that need a litte bit of work whilst the BH needs a new pair of soles on hers.
The last time I got involved in "fashion" was back in the days of winklepickers, since then it has been good sturdy stuff.

But then as the weather gets better (sometimes) the need for good sturdy shoes will decrease for the summer and will sit in the cupboard.

perhaps we should ask him to open a bar instead of his cobblers - but then we have most of them not opening for breakfast and lunch, evenings only, as there is no money for beer and tapas whilst the BH needs her hair done.

All our bars are run by owner and BH so looking at the "lifestyle" of pub owners taking one day off and being completely shut would appear to be the maximum enjoyment - except one in the next street used to be totally shut Wednesdays but needs the business so now opens for breakfast and closes at 10am.
What is this "lifestyle"??

and as to this thing you call "sun" - we haven't had a big yellow thing in the sky for 4 months now, plenty of rain, local dogs are growing webs on their feet.

sitting at home posting on BES is more of a lifestyle than running a pub, usually less stressful as well

Offload?? Hardly, I think we are in pretty good shape after 21 years of freehold ownership

Like I said 99% fail , buying freehold would be even more loco ,you wouldn't be selling a bar would you ?

Why would I not be selling, what do you know about me, my life or our future plans??? Freehold is the safest way to have a bar or restaurant, we ran our place for 4 years and have rented it out for 17 years, its more than paid for its self!