anyone just sold up, emigrated & opened a bar in spain for example? pros/cons?

life just not happening for us these days. 2 teenagers (left school now) heavily involved in chav/drug culture, working away and leaving wife to deal with it all, one of them with mental issues due to drug use, not much light at the end of the tunnel or anything really to ‘work towards’.

just been talking to wife this morning and thinking bout options. she mentioned she’d like to run a bar abroad. we’d both love to live somewhere in the sun, so would the kids, and itd separate em from the chav culture over here. get em working in a bar or something? our bar maybe? i did a TEFL course a while ago and could possibly teach english somewhere to help out?

is it a pipe dream? i know anythings possible, and you only live once, but do the cons in my situation outweigh the pros?

interested to hear anyones experiences or views……

thanks

Well I left a fairly well paid IT job to be a TEFL teacher in Spain. Pros – the food/drink/weather/riding/lack of stress. Cons – less money.

There’s plenty of work for English teachers and you dont always have to have a qualification. Personally, I wouldnt bother with a bar, plenty are closing down due to the recession.

Oh, and “chavs” are not a uniquely English thing, plenty in Spain too.

27% unemployment in Spain and youth unemployment is 57% 😯

mackem, would the ‘less money’ still be enough to support family of 4 to a decent standard?
and yep, i realise thered be chavs in spain too, its just getting away from the particular culture and crowd here. anywhere would do that, its just we started talking bout spain in particular.

EDIT: how do the unemployment stats compare with over here? bit ignorant of that really.

I lived in Spain for quite a few years and some friends are just opening a bar in a small village this week.The bar is actually owned by the community and they needed someone to take it on.If it pays them enough to stay out in Spain then they’ll be happy.They’ll probably have to do food as well.
Another English couple i know opened a bar in a small village but eventually closed it down as it just didn’t make any money.There were established Spanish owned bars in the village who appealed more to the Spanish people.
Some other English friends run a small hotel and bar,and despite being in a totally Spanish location they have very few Spanish customers and only appeal to the British.
Food is normally very competitively priced in Spanish areas with a bar nearby to my house doing the 4 course menu del dia for 9 Euros including a drink.The bar takes enough money just to open at lunchtimes 5 days a week.
According to my friends who run the hotel ,their drinks supplier says things are pretty bad with bars really struggling.
You may be better off looking at the English teaching as a lot of Spanish are keen to learn English,but i’d assume that you’d need to learn some Spanish before you venture down this route.

2 people working as TEFL teachers might be able to support a family. A lot depends on your housing costs.
If you have the cash available you can buy outright very cheaply in some parts of Spain. I’m in the North where costs are a lot higher but I get paid a bit more than average. I dont think I’d want to be supporting a couple of kids though.

You dont really need Spanish to teach English (unless you want to work in a proper school rather than a private academy)

2 people working as TEFL teachers might be able to support a family. A lot depends on your housing costs.

aye, just me, so thats why we were thinking something for wife too, such as a bar where the kids could help out to save expense/wages. starting to look a bit of a pipe dream tho :-/

f you have the cash available you can buy outright very cheaply in some parts of Spain.

we’d have around £60,000 equity to play with. thats it.

thanks for the info so far 🙂

Here you go, a disco bar in Marbella, 65k euros.

http://www.segundamano.es/malaga/disco-bar-en-marbella/a43453214/?ca=29_s&st=a&c=51

Actually, what do you do now? There’s a surprising amount of work for English speaking people in Madrid.

You dont really need Spanish to teach English (unless you want to work in a proper school rather than a private academy)

Few years back I spent four months in one of the Don Quijote language schools (thoroughly recommended, for many reasons….sigh….). Most teachers there didn’t speak a word of English beyond simple greetings.

We had a few classes where we was talked through a few very basic things and then full immersion.

Best way to learn IMO

Sigh… I miss those Swedish girls

…..sigh…..

Actually, what do you do now? There’s a surprising amount of work for English speaking people in Madrid.

firefighter.

been reading a few bits and bobs from google, and seems leasing would be the wise option rather than buying. but if theres no living to be made at it…… :-/

Pity you couldnt be a firefighter here, work one week in three, get paid a fortune.

is that what they do over there??? aye, be great that wouldnt it 🙂

If yourself and your wife are confident that you can return to jobs in the UK then just rent somewhere for 6 or 12 months.I think rents at the moment are pretty low and if i was looking to move out to Spain now there is no way that i would buy.Don’t give up your house in the UK unless you are completely confident about your future in Spain.
Unless you have an employers contract,classed as a pensioner or pay self employed contributions,which are very high,then you will not be eligible for any benefits.
For English speakers the biggest job opportunities are in British areas such as large urbanisations.They will also have the lowest rents due to the amount of houses available.
Moving teenagers can be very difficult,and for some friends it was a disaster.
I know many people who moved out to Spain thinking it was going to be like a holiday but when bills started coming in reallity hit.Wages can be low and i know South Americans that will work for less than 5 euros an hour.

thanks, good insight. FWIW i wouldnt be able to walk back into my occupation once its given up. wife is part time and could return to that line of work if needed, but im the main breadwinner and that would have been given up.

i should also maybe mention that although im a firefighter, my main experience has been in engineering, cnc machining in aerospace. did TEFL and also managment courses to broaden my horizons and options. be good if they could help me possibly, thats why i did them after all.

and also, it doesnt have to be spain, we’d consider anything really if anyone has anything interesting to throw into the mix?

thanks

Parents have been in Denia area for a few years (40 miles nth of Benidorm), lots of expats and popular with 2nd home owners.

They report as above, lots of bar/cafe owners packing up and going home, many just closing the doors and abandoning everything incl debts.

Might be worth thinking of something more original tho? Mobile fish n Chip shop?, fleet of ice cream vans?

Personally, I wouldnt bother with a bar, plenty are closing down due to the recession.

My brother in law ran for many years a successful Irish pub/bar (which also employed his daughter) in the centre of Madrid, it closed a year or two back due to the economic climate.

it doesnt have to be spain,

Is there know where that’ll acknowledge a UK water fairies qualification, so you could transfer internationally?

Are you able to get a visa for Aus or NZ with the firefighting? That’s where I’d be looking.

Can you not take a sabbatical from work? not come back if you land on your feet?

I’m in Southern Spain and there is high unemployment. The cost of living is cheaper but going up too. Still a great place to live though and I enjoy it very much.
There are two things from you post which stand out. Please don’t take them the wrong way, just thoughts.
1. Are you sure you want to take your children away from a drug culture and into a drinking one? I’ve seen quite a few Brits screw their lives up in bars over here, everyday is a holiday attitude. Also there is very much a hash culture in some parts of Southern Spain, I can see Morocco in a 1 minute walk from where I live.
2. Have you thought about community support there? Youth clubs, addiction or community support centres, those sorts of things. Would you still want to move away if some of the problems went away?

Would it be possible for you all to take a few weeks of work and stay somewhere self catering. Rent is cheap, landlords here are desperate for money. Maybe you could see how you get on?

Is there know where that’ll acknowledge a UK water fairies qualification, so you could transfer internationally?

not that i know of. when i came into the job i mistakenly thought once in i coulkd transfer from county to county just like that if i wanted to. its not like that at all, and im pretty much stuck where i am.
i dont know of any countries that would accept UK qualifications to get in. happy to be shown otherwise tho 🙂

Are you able to get a visa for Aus or NZ with the firefighting? That’s where I’d be looking.

ive looked into oz, and dont score high enough for the visa i would have wanted. i think id need the one where you already have to have the promise of a job and are sponsored by the company.

Can you not take a sabbatical from work? not come back if you land on your feet?

its unlikely, altho i could ask. theyve been sympathetic to my problems dealing with my lad so far, so its not totally out of the question, and is something id explore as a safety net. but….. i need to find something first 🙂

Please don’t take them the wrong way,

not a chance, im always quite open, and pleased to hear views even if i dont agree with them.

Are you sure you want to take your children away from a drug culture and into a drinking one? I’ve seen quite a few Brits screw their lives up in bars over here, everyday is a holiday attitude. Also there is very much a hash culture in some parts of Southern Spain, I can see Morocco in a 1 minute walk from where I live.

im not a big drinker myself, more into keeping fit and healthy so i wouldnt get drawn into that personally. i cant vouch for my kids, there are probably many ways in which they could screw their lives up, theyve already nearly done it here, so its a case of trying to give them a fresh start somewhere. the eldest has begged us to take him somewhere away from these ‘friends’ and influences. i get the feeling they would always try and fit into whatever the culture is where they are, which could be good or bad.

Have you thought about community support there? Youth clubs, addiction or community support centres, those sorts of things. Would you still want to move away if some of the problems went away?

theres limited support for them for their issues, and nothing for them to actually do (whether thats a lack of ambition or getting off their arses and looking i cant say 100%)
if the ‘teenager’ problems went away, we’d still like to try something different as our work/life balance is cr*p. im away too much and moving to work area would be a downgrade from a nice village to a sh*tty, crime ridden area where the only people my kids know are druggy scrotes. so just thinking if we move, make it a good choice to improve all our lives.

thanks for the advice so far.

Very best of luck with your decisions. Don’t rush. The challenges with Spain have already been mentioned – severe recession, high unemployment (chronic among the young). Sometimes these conditions offer great opportunity especially if you are looking to buy premises on the cheap. But there is the big bogeyman around the corner – the €. If you buy assets (eg a bar) now you run the risk that at some point Spain leaves the € and tries to restore cost competitiveness to its economy, this would imply a devaluation in the region of 20-25% accompanies by severe short term pain. IMO, the time for bravery and risk taking is the moment of devaluation not before,

Have you thought about other parts of Asia. Here is a real wild card for you – the Asian economy that is surprising people is Indonesia. Lots of opportunity but also challenges as an ex pat!

Some people on here accuse me of being too anti the €, so bear with me. My only real point is just beware. Investing your nest egg in a country where (sorry) there is a real risk of a devaluation at some stage carries risk that you need to consider IMO.

thanks. we did try and get sorted with thailand, but it looks like that doors closed. my bro lives in phuket and has a few language schools around the world, hence the ITTT (TEFL) course, and the idea was that i would buy a language school from him in phuket and run that. thatd would have been lovely. its not making enough money now tho to support the 4 of us, and my wife and kids wouldnt be able to find work over there, as apparently you cant be employed in work that a thai can do.

but id be interested in any opportunities really. we’d consider anything and dont mind a calculated gamble.

Spain wont be in the EC for much longer – when it goes it will be even worse for jobs / business than it is now.

Pick somewhere thats not in a recession or headding for a massive bail out.

I worked in Egypt for a while – teaching Diving. Great sunny lifestyle, didnt make any money but it paid my rent and food.

Why not look for a job that requires a couple to run it, like a holiday resort place in Canada or Auz or NZ ?

Spain wont be in the EC for much longer – when it goes it will be even worse for jobs / business than it is now.

Pick somewhere thats not in a recession or headding for a massive bail out.

Can’t see and real signs of Spain leaving the Euro, why do you think this? A bailout doesn’t seem particularly likely right now, either.

That said, I don’t think I’d come to Spain right now to look for work, the economy is bumping along at the bottom of a recession, and even the government admits it won’t even start to pick up until at least next year.

Get a hgv licence and start looking for employers that will sponsor you to emigrate, or have a good look at jobs that typically sponsor, you will be surprised if you look hard enough, we came to Alberta Canada and although not eutopia the job market is incredible, getting sponsored is the best way to go as you start earning straight away, it’s bloody expensive moving

We sold up and have moved to Eire, housing cheaper,so got rid of mortgage .Bought a better house with land for cash .
Ok job situ not so good but only need money for food ,living as said no mortgage or rent to pay.
Less population ,good schooling for our 14 year old,less crime away from the masses .
Good mountain biking thanks to colite (forestry commission),plenty of natural stuff too plus GUINNESS.

I live near the town of Coin-about 30 mins inland from Malaga and Marbella.Population is about 22,000 of which probably 1,500-2,000 are expats.In the past there were 8 brit bars and now we are down to 2 that are both struggling to stay afloat.Unfortunately they do tend to attract a certain type of clientelle so we use the spanish bars.The coast is no better-too many bars all doing the same thing whilst many hotels have gone all-inclusive.By the time you have paid rent and social security which is a crippling 247 euros a month self employed you are already struggling.To be honest you need enough money to support you here without relying on an income-your 60k will soon go.Almost everyone is struggling here at the moment and no sign of it getting any better which is a shame as it is such a nice place to live.I also have relatives in France and Cyprus and it is the same there.

I don’t know you, your family or any other details bar your OP but it strikes me that you need to invest your energy helping your lads out rather than looking for a way out of the country. I can see the attraction in starting afresh somewhere new, but im pretty sure that you would end up in the same situation in a short space of time, just in another country.

Your lads who are into drugs and have no motivation won’t suddenly change when you put them in a different area. You may have a honeymoon period but they’ll soon revert to their old behaviour no matter where they are in the world. You need to address their behaviour and help them change their outlook on life. This is all easier said than done, but at least in the UK you will have people to help you. You mention that one of the boys is known to MH services, if he has a key worker ask him what can be offered to help him. You could also ask for advice from drug services/charities that will be in your area about a strategy to help your boys out.

Good luck with it, as a parent myself I can appreciate that you have some tough times ahead.

We taught English in Barcelona in 89/90 (the pre-Olympic boom). We made enough for a family of four to live on (as a couple we lived well) and lived in a nice flat on the beach in Sitges. Madame was in Spain last week, one guy she was with had just been made unemployed and was resigned to not finding work. 2-300 000 young people have left Spain to find work in the last year or so. I would choose somewhere else.

In Germany you’re more likely to find work but are almost certain to end up as one of the working poor as there is no minimum wage and a mini-job policy means salaries can be painfully low. There is TEFL work but you need to be good and experience in a less demanding country would help.

Anything I say about France is heavily biased so I’ll desist.

Unless you have an excellent grasp of another language I reckon that a move within the UK or the Anglo-Saxon world will produce better results faster.

Edit: get a job before you go!

I would move within the UK if I was you. Least risk option. Good luck.

I bought a place on an European Urbanisation near Alicante
And in the short time of having our place I have seen has many restaurants go
to the wall and for many re open.
The most I see go to the wall is ones that only do English food or rely on
Karaoke as there is many doing it but also where they don’t have the correct licence
and also regarding noise the laws are different from an Urbanisation as opposed to being
at the sea front in Spain and the Police still finding it hard to work with the new Laws.

Good quality restaurants similar to TGI Friday do well

I have to be honest I can get good quality three course meals for 12 euros and a bottle
of house wine for 2 euros 90 cents and yes drinkable : )

The competition is steep and a lot do well with good personalities too.
but unsure if you would want to put your family through even more/new stresses.

One thing I would advise you don’t sell your home here but rent it out
as there are few people where I am that can’t afford to come back home !

But I wish you and your family all the luck in the world 😉

The people who previously rented the house next to us came back. They had been out there for years, had their own pub/restaurant and they got hit by the slump. Unfortunately they had to shut up and are struggling to sell their property out there. It was sad listening to their tale 🙁

I’m thinking out loud, so please don’t take any of this as criticism, but it does sound like you are in a situation that you really want to simply run away from.

I’m aware of the issues with your son, but I can’t see that opting to move abroad will help; it looks like a massive gamble that might just about, possibly, with the wind behind you, and an awful lot of luck, turn out to be slightly better than the situation you are in at present.

If you feel moving is going to help, then aim to move within the UK. Just moving is stressful enough, never mind moving abroad into financial uncertainty.

I wish I could help, I wish I could be more positive, but you sound as if you are getting desperate, and desperate people sometimes make the wrong choices…

read the posts above carefully… do you get any that say.. great idea i had a mate move his family out open a bar teach english and all is cushty?.. no me neither

did you get any saying .. unemployment 27% ( thats FOUR times worse thanit is here!!) had a mate /know somebodu who had a bar/ club and it closed…

relocate in the uk.. rent your current house out and teach the millions that UKIP are scared to death of to speak english..

Majorca ?

Water front Cafe with bike memorabilia and Classics DVD’s on a loop.

A Pinarello Dogma in the bike rack outside would help too !.

You should go over to britishexpats.com and do a search for firefighter etc, see where (if anywhere) there are jobs going. And then have a look at the Spain pages.

And I realise this is obvious but don’t overlook the importance of actually understanding the local language in finding work, accommodation etc.

lived in Spain over 10 years, loved it, ups and downs just like anywhere!
Not a good time for working and young people there at the moment, you would all need to speak the language,and adapt to the lifestyle, it is pointless to go thinking otherwise. Living in one of the Expat “ghettos” would be an option, but why bother then?
Running a bar is often awful/expensive/totally time consuming/stresful etc…

I would say no,maybe move within the UK closer to work and spend time together as a family.

Cirencester requires a decent greasy spoon cafe in town, minimalistic, decent food, proper portions, organic options, there is a profit to be made I’m sure.