andyrich666

As for price of drinks and food, apart from the 'del dias / del noches' I think its quite on Par with UK.

Round here you cal get completely sloshed on 5€ at happy hour, I think like in UK if a bar can do volume it will be cheap, other bars have a certain quality that attracts people too.

Although Spain has a huge alcohol problem that is not believed by those in the UK I don't see they are large pub drinkers, however I do see them stocking up with boxes of wine and cartons of beer in the supermarkets.

cricketman

Yes I agree

cricketman

Spain doesnt have a huge alcohol problem, where did you get that from?

Spanish cities are very pleasant places at 2-3am in the morning. In the UK you would be surrounded by drunks, fights and pools of vomit

Also, good quality restaurants are way cheaper in Spain than in the UK, maybe 50% cheaper, or more. At the weatherspoons end then maybe not

andyrich666

Don't be in denial, its been on TV and in papers and also discussed on debate in the UK

http://news.kyero.com/2010/04/22/spa...alcohol-abuse/

In UK there is a discount card called Taste Card, with that it can make meals very cheap for Sunday > Thursday, generally 50% off or 2 for one, used to be Taste London, but now national and accepted widely.

cricketman

I don't care what the media says. I have been going out in Spain and the UK since I was a teenager. Spanish people (in general) have a very healthy attitude to alcohol and you rarely see anybody drunk

This doesnt mean that they don't drink of course, it just means that they can handle it.

steviedeluxe

if you avoid the trendy hyped places in London, charging £60 a head or more, you can find some very decent places (often foreign run) and inexpensive. It's possible even to get a lunch menu of two courses for around £7. Of course the difference is the cost of drinks, and a decent glass of wine will cost £5 or even £6, as opposed to a Ribera or Rioja costing around £2 or less in Spain.

steviedeluxe

Maybe not acting in a drunken rowdy way, but you see plenty of people who abuse their intake of alcohol, starting with a carajillo or sol y sombra in the morning, and carrying on from then. It's still an alcohol problem.

cricketman

Yes somebody should point me towards these great quality and inexpensive restaurants in the UK. I went out twice a week in the UK to eat between the ages of 20 and 27 and failed to find any!

Some of the London chains are good value and decent enough e.g. wagamama, hare & tortoise etc, but there is no comparison to a proper restaurant

andyrich666

I think its more the drinking at home which is less noticed.

Regardless - I watch sometimes callejeros on Cuatro, every now and then they film the drunkeness on the streets of Madrid, Sevilla, Leon and so on.

I have seen it quite often here and on other travels, I was once in a bar in Sevilla, the whole pub was drunk, in fact I dont think it ever closed.

Also I have witnessed more lately some women, absolutley shot to bits.

jackytoo

The way round that is to share a bottle for £10.

amideislas

Yes, (much of) Spain is cheap. But then again, parts of France are too. And Germany. And Poland. And even parts of the UK. But comparing prices in London to prices in some Spanish village isn't hardly a fair comparison. It really doesn't prove anything. It only serves to suggest Spain good, UK bad.

Disclaimer: I'm not much of a fan of the UK anymore, but it does have some admirable qualities. It's not all bad.

andyrich666

No, the good thing is no kids in the pubs after 7 is it, or earlier at weekends, in fact some now have a total ban, that might be cos of the waste of space single mothers jawing it down there necks

HBG

I don't know whether my expat area is representative, the Spanish only make up some 70% of the population, but they more commonly drink at home, not alone but in a sort of communal atmosphere, family, friends and neighbours. It would be much cheaper than the same group of people descending on a restaurant, even one of the cheaper ones.

It's not as though they keep to themselves, if they've got guiris next door, they invite them in, although they seldom invite Moros. Probably because Moros don't drink.

Dick Dasterdly

Still living in your parallel universe C'man, I see.
Though I don't imagine you've ever even been to a Spanish bottle party.

Well the thing is unlike a year or two back, most bottle parties are now arranged at short notice by small groups and totally unsupervised so it's not unusual for kids as young as 12 to end up comatosed in hospital though of course you don't consider that to be a problem ?

They are also held well away from public view so unlike in the UK there are no police close at hand to deal with the increasing level of violence or medical assistance on standby close by either.
Apart from the problem of underage kids ending up legless and totally helpless there has been an ongoing rise in the number of stabbings also.

I have listened to numerous discussions about this ever growing problem which is now widespread and causing ever increasing concern amongst the authorities who are unable to exercise any control because of the way they are arranged.

cricketman

Unlike a lot of people on this forum, I like to form opinions based on experiences

I have been out dozens of times (probably hundreds) until 6-7am in Spain and hardly ever seen anyone stumbing over. Never seen a fight (except between British tourists).

Back in the UK, I saw a fight almost every time I went out

My wife says Spanish teenagers get drunk a couple of times aged 14-15 and then learn what their limits are and dont do it when they older

A lot of British people like to get paralytic at least once a week well into their 30s, 40s or even 50s and beyond!