# Colmenar Malaga



## seank (Jan 26, 2012)

I am thinking of opening a bar in colmenar
Can anyone tell me if there is a large English population nearby


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

seank said:


> I am thinking of opening a bar in colmenar
> Can anyone tell me if there is a large English population nearby


:welcome:

I have a friend in Colmenar - I shall ask her .....


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## donz (May 5, 2010)

I know there certainly are SOME because we have customers from Colmenar and RioGordo / surrounding areas. They all meet us in Casabermeja though so I don't take much notice of their actual locations!


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## fionamw (Jul 6, 2009)

Are we talking about Colmenar in Malaga province? If so, I know a number of bar owners and ex-bar owners who'd have something to contribute to a conversation about the likely success of a bar here...


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

fionamw said:


> Are we talking about Colmenar in Malaga province? If so, I know a number of bar owners and ex-bar owners who'd have something to contribute to a conversation about the likely success of a bar here...


:welcome:


:clap2:


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## seank (Jan 26, 2012)

Look forward to that


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## alex.sibianu (Nov 5, 2012)

I know that in Malaga there are a lot of british expats but i also know there are quite a few English owned bars. 

Good luck!


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## fionamw (Jul 6, 2009)

Well I would post a raspberry but as you well know there's never one around when you need it! 

Still waiting to be sure it's 'my' Colmenar before spouting forth. One thing's for sure, though....... in the six years-plus we've been here, the average direction of bars in the village is OUT of business or REDUCING opening hours, etc., not the reverse. 

Is the OP a regular in these 'ere parts?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

fionamw said:


> Well I would post a raspberry but as you well know there's never one around when you need it!
> 
> Still waiting to be sure it's 'my' Colmenar before spouting forth. One thing's for sure, though....... in the six years-plus we've been here, the average direction of bars in the village is OUT of business or REDUCING opening hours, etc., not the reverse.
> 
> Is the OP a regular in these 'ere parts?


I didn't realise there was more than one Colmenar

googleismyfriend though - so now I know that there's a municipality as well as village.....

I suppose that could make a difference?


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## fionamw (Jul 6, 2009)

I don't know much about the other one, it's usually listed as Colmenar Viejo and it's somewhere around Madrid, but given that this one dates to the 1400s or whatever, I'm not sure how much more viejo the other one could be!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

fionamw said:


> I don't know much about the other one, it's usually listed as Colmenar Viejo and it's somewhere around Madrid, but given that this one dates to the 1400s or whatever, I'm not sure how much more viejo the other one could be!


well the OP does say Colmenar Málaga, so at a guess I'd say it's yours....


so - opening a bar which would seem to be aimed at Brits..... good idea or no?

are there enough Brits to support it?


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## fionamw (Jul 6, 2009)

Sorry that was pretty dim of me, wasn't it! 

Ok let's put some thoughts together. There are a fair number of Brits, though definitely only hundreds rather than thousands in a wide village/campo (maybe 10km radius) area - and there's a crossover of population & bars with nearby RioGordo. 
Many have gone back to the UK. There is a British-run bar in the centre of the village which recently nearly sold but there was a problem at the last minute. So they clearly wanted to sell if they could. It's sometimes quite full, but they work their cotton socks off to do roast meals on Sundays, music nights, quizzes (I ran the most recent, last Friday!) and whatever else. Summer they have ayuntamiento encouragement to have tables and chairs in the plaza, though again there's crossover of space with another bar about 30 metres away. There is a Dutch-run bar, recently changed hands and not exactly bursting at the seams most of the time. There's a multi-national (ie I don't know the latest configuration) bar at the top end of the village which we rarely go in. The rest of the village is entirely Spanish, lots of bars, never - except sometimes at feria - exactly heaving. There's a lovely hotel at the edge of the village, run by a British family/woman for about six months until about six months ago. They've gone too and it's shut (again). Essentially it's unlikely you'll make much of a living just aiming at Brits. You HAVE to have Spanish customers. Well that's my take on it, anyway. The couple running the existing Brit bar have Spanish custom now, they've worked hard to get it but even then as I said it's an uphill task. 
I'd like to hear more about the OP's idea, it sounds probably as if I'm unduly negative and critical but I can't say much other than outline the current state without knowing more.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Around here at this time of year many restaurants and bars close for the winter as there simply aren't enough customers for them all to make a living. One English owned bar in Nerja has closed after less than 2 years and another is likely to close in a few weeks. We know a family who run a very successful bar/restaurant in Nerja but he works all hours to make a living and they only employ a couple of people (both Spanish)so the work is hard graft all the time. My advice (and I agree with the advice gien above) would be to make absolutely certain your bar is going to offer something very different and very needed. If you can come up with something you might get lucky and be successful.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

I assume you mean Colmenar to the north of Malaga rather than El Colmenar - Estacion de Gaucin which is also in Malaga province.

Looking at it on Google Maps it looks similar in size to our village of Jimena de la Frontera. Although our village and the surrounding Campo has a few hundred Brits living - mostly retired or working in Gibraltar - it remains largely Spanish. There are also a fair few holiday cottages and a couple of tourist hostales. We also have the advantage of the proximity to Gibraltar and the Costa is only a 20 minute drive away.

We ran a bar here until very recently. It was largely a bar/bistro for Brits and other expats, doing an inexpensive international menu (typical main course 7 - 9 euros) but also many of the younger Spanish would also come in to eat something different or drink as ours was the only 'different' bar in the pueblo. 

We ran it for two years the first of which was marginally successful. We did Sunday lunch (this was quite popular with some of the Spanish), quiz nights, open mic nights, occasionally live music and 'theme' nights - e.g. French or curry nights.

It was extremely hard work (mostly just the two of us) and frankly not worth doing for the money although we enjoyed most of it. The second year was less successful with the big difference being that the Spanish stopped coming in. Not just us either - the other bars/restaurants were the same.

So - that was our experience. Glad we did it but wouldn't do it again. 

We worked out that you need to take on average 200 Euros per day 7 days a week to break even - that's a lot of tubos.

Incidentally our busiest period in both years was September to May. We might just as well have closed July/August.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

seank said:


> I am thinking of opening a bar in colmenar
> Can anyone tell me if there is a large English population nearby


The only way you might stand some sort of chance is if you are buying the freehold.What you have to understand if you decide to go for it,why should people move from existing bars to yours?Even Irish theme bars on the coast are closing down which at one time those were the bars to open.I have said this before in another post and I will say it again the brits making money out of bars are the ones that own the freeholds.They don't give a damn about how many customers are in your bar as they are getting the rent each month.I apologise for sounding negative but me and the other half have owned a bar in Benalmadena and we owned it when the boom was just starting.The work and hours you have to put in for any money you get is a pittance.I suppose me and the other half can count ourselves lucky now as we don't work and don't want to and don't need to and in all honesty will think you would struggle more in a Spanish village than you will on the coast.I know in the village we live in there is not one English bar although two people have tried and lasted three months.If you can come here and not work it's still an enjoyable life.At the moment there are flyers and adverts all over the place for Christmas and new year and they are all trying to outdo each other on prices to get the punters in.It was cutthroat years ago when we had our bar it's even worse now.Personally I would not thank you for one give me a Spanish bar or venta anytime.


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## seank (Jan 26, 2012)

fionamw said:


> Well I would post a raspberry but as you well know there's never one around when you need it!
> 
> Still waiting to be sure it's 'my' Colmenar before spouting forth. One thing's for sure, though....... in the six years-plus we've been here, the average direction of bars in the village is OUT of business or REDUCING opening hours, etc., not the reverse.
> 
> Is the OP a regular in these 'ere parts?


Hi
Its the Colmenar in Malaga
Are there many Brits there and are there any bars doing Carverys ?


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## seank (Jan 26, 2012)

Thanks for that it helps a lot mind made up think we will stay here


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