mogsmum

I am firmly on the fence, you watch these programs and you laugh at some of these people, not being ready for a wine tasting, not having any medical cover, etc then part of me feels for them, its bad enough being in the Uk /home when things go wrong, stuck where you do not want to be must be awful.

What caught my ears was a throw away lines -

France Bloke - " the grass is n I love the other programs where they say, yes we want to spend more time together......like if you move to oz/n

Really...........

I hope its greener when we get to Spain... but I doubt it

lokalokaloka

Felt kinda bad for the couple with the Vineyard but no sympathy for the couple and the woman with the bars/cafes. They chose to purchase a business that is aimed at the local minorities. What do you expect? Spain isn't England in the sun. Florida isn't England in the sun.

megmet

To live in America without health cover is just stupid and irresponsible!

To buy a vineyard and have no knowledge of grape vines is simply daft!

And last but by no means least, to buy a bar anywhere in Spain is the fastest way known to man for losing money....unless you are very good at your job and are in the perfect location!

Domino

oh dear, a bar here has just changed hands - but young local couple not brits have taken it on. improved the tapas but prices still the same, changed the hours from 0500-1330 to 0500-2200. they have got some staff to help cover certain hours, but it is going to be a hard slog for a young couple in their early 20's to make a splash when there are 3 bars in the same street.

hope they succeed, will just have to wait and see.

mogsmum

I hope they do too

steviedeluxe

They open at 5 in the morning??

jimenato

Of course! How else are the commuters, basura lorry drivers and bread and fish delivery men going to get their aguardiente and brandy before driving off?

bobd22

And last but by no means least, to buy a bar anywhere in Spain is the fastest way known to man for losing money....unless you are very good at your job and are in the perfect location![/QUOTE]

Yes valid points, however I think the woman there felt it was in the ideal place when she and her partner bought the place. Not what everyone may want out of Spain but as she commented "it was a buzzing little Britain 5 years ago". She may have been naive re her partner (never went into detail). As for the bar well like many she didn't see what was coming after 07/08. She seemed to be making the effort in fairness ok it was for brits but that is who she believed and had been her market. Also she wasn't passing the buck she just realised she had made a big mistake and wanted to go home. As was said earlier you do wonder why they air it all in open suppose there may be payment which helped her get back to UK. She made a mistake hasn't anyone else? Said it before but I love how the media make either way, pre 07 live the dream programmes now capitalise on people who tried that's misery, what a sad world we live in

bobd22

Yes Dom where we have our little house there have been a couple of bars ran by locals opened and closed over the past few years. They all seem to open with so much enthusiasm and expectation. So difficult for them but you always hope they will do well but they are really up against it no matter where you are from.

mogsmum

Yes valid points, however I think the woman there felt it was in the ideal place when she and her partner bought the place. Not what everyone may want out of Spain but as she commented "it was a buzzing little Britain 5 years ago". She may have been naive re her partner (never went into detail). As for the bar well like many she didn't see what was coming after 07/08. She seemed to be making the effort in fairness ok it was for brits but that is who she believed and had been her market. Also she wasn't passing the buck she just realised she had made a big mistake and wanted to go home. As was said earlier you do wonder why they air it all in open suppose there may be payment which helped her get back to UK. She made a mistake hasn't anyone else? Said it before but I love how the media make either way, pre 07 live the dream programmes now capitalise on people who tried that's misery, what a sad world we live in[/QUOTE]
so true

agoreira

True, but they came in for flack for over glamourising the situation in Spain with the "living the dream" type programmes, now they come in the same flack for doing the opposite. I bet they had no shortage of people wanting to appear, and seemingly no shortage of viewers either. Perhaps they should make another programme, we'll have a few volunteers from here that seem to have all the answers, have made no mistakes, they could show how it should be done. Would make for riveting TV.

Lynn R

I thought the man who'd bought the vineyard in France was naive but charming, he was quite upfront about the fact that he'd not really known what he was doing. I did feel sorry for them working so hard with the wine tasting and picnic, and people coming along and not buying anything - what kind of cheapskates were they???

As for the other two locations, it was really just a case of businesses that were probably doing OK originally being devastated by the recession, which must have happened/be happening all over the world. They seemed to be hard workers, but as Megmet said, I couldn't imagine anybody moving to the USA and not having health insurance. Maybe they had it originally and couldn't afford to keep paying the premiums, I thought €24,000 seemed an awful lot of money to have to pay for having an appendix out, which I thought was a fairly straightforward operation if there are no complications.

bobd22

Well I suppose the TV stations just have to attract viewers either side of the crash. I would not be one to gloat at anyone's downfall made a few mistakes myself, luckily as of yet none been terminal if you get my meaning, however who knows what is around the corner.

Pocaloca

Every new business venture is a gamble, surely, and can go belly-up. I'm not sure why just because you do it in a foreign country, it can be classified as "entertainment". I wouldn't watch this programme even if I could!

steviedeluxe

The failure rate for new restaurant is depressingly high, even in so-called boom times. Yet I have to admit it can be entertaining watching those Nightmare in the Kitchen type docs.