26 Degrees in the Shade . . .

Parking and Location

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A bar on the Costa del Sol, which doesn’t have parking nearby, a nice terrace or a really nice terrace, has little or no chance of doing well.Think about the places you would use, especially in the height of summer when temperatures are very high. Probably you would choose a bar or restaurant, which had parking nearby, and if that’s how you and I think, then it’s reasonable to imagine that thousands of other potential customers will think in the same way.

Our Bar and Restaurant has free parking right out side and we get lots of extra trade because of it. Often people are tired on their way home from either a day on the beach, or if they are resident, a day at work and although they need to get some Take Away food, it’s still seen by them as a bit of a chore. Given that they will always choose a place where they can park very close by.

There is however an exception to this unwritten rule and that is:

If you have a bar in a very busy urban street you’ll be able to target the passing trade and this will extend your trading season.

Please be very careful of businesses that claim to be “front line beach” or “on a busy road going to the beach”, as this could be synonymous with “Only has trade 6 months per year!”

So to summarize:

Look for a big terrace and plenty of parking nearby. Realistically although in our restaurant take away we have trade 11 months per year (because we have both Spanish and British residents as well as Spanish and British tourists, plus we speak Spanish.) You should really expect about 9 months trade per year from most English run bars. If you learn some basic Spanish you will attract more trade and if you have a good location enjoy a longer season.

One of the really nice things about running a bar or restaurant here, is that when you do close you can take a break on the other side of the world and it will be summer there. Personally we like the Caribbean as a holiday destination.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am and is filed under Business. Find similar posts by selecting and of the following tags: english bar in spain, location, parking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.