A scan through the small ads will throw up any number of commercial properties for sale.  It can be very tempting to let one’s imagination run on and see oneself buying that little bar with the solid client base, healthy turnover and reaping the benefits of the good life.  If there is a flat above, then you have found yourself both a source of income and a home. 
Running a bar in Spain is not a quick and easy way to make money.  Unlike in Britain, you will not be shouting ‘last orders’ at 10.30 or 11.00 p.m. You can expect to be working until at least 2.00 a.m, after having been on your feet for at least 14 hours.  During the high season you may well be doing this seven days a week. You will be competing with the locals in a market they know far better than you and in a language that you may never fully come to terms with. The locals will also either own their premises outright or be paying a rent so low that it would make you cry just thinking about it. Add to this the strong family connections and abundance of willing assistance, plus the acceptance of lesser financial remuneration and you can maybe see why a bar in the sun might not be for you. On the other hand, working for yourself can be very rewarding, if done well and provide a steady income and a wide circle of friends.
Having accepted the ups and downs of the life of a bar owner, how do you go about securing your premises? There is the obvious route of buying a property and setting up from scratch. You might find this a little daunting with the myriad of paperwork and permissions you would be expected to acquire before ever opening your doors. Also, like anywhere else in the world, building works often overrun schedules and delays in getting your first euro in the till adds to your worries. 
A less fraught way into the business is to take over the lease on an existing bar. Known as ‘traspaso’, this is the easier route into the business. Apart from taking over the lease, you also take on rental of the property and hopefully, many of the existing customers. With a ‘traspaso’ effected you have no reason to seek permission for the setting up of the premises, it is already in place. Your hurdles are thus minimised. You will, however, need to satisfy the regulations for those working with and handling food and drink, which means attending a compulsory course in food hygiene.
Recently I was killing time early evening in the Jávea area and called into a bar.  It happened to be British owned and run. Walking in from the bright sunshine it took my eyes a while to get accustomed to the gloom of the interior. I gave my order for drinks to the lady behind the bar and allowed my eyes to wander around my surroundings
Faded Glories
This was the finest example of how not to run a bar I have thus far encountered. It was impossible to ascertain what colour the walls had been because they had long ago faded to dingy grey. The ceilings were smoke -stained and whatever was on the floor was indeterminate, having long since given up any hope of being cleaned or salvaged, it was mouldering into the fabric of the floor itself.  
It came as no great surprise to see that all the furniture was mismatched and much of it home made by someone who clearly had been working in the dark with salvage from the beach. I suppose the sheen from the grease on the upholstery at least helped illuminate the gloom! It was one of those places that convinced you that nothing short of burning your clothes and going through sheep dip would make you feel clean again.  Unsurprisingly, it was empty.
A Dream Gone Sour
I cannot imagine for one minute that these two people’s dream of a life in the sun involved running a dirty, depressing bar, devoid of custom and struggling to stay afloat.  Like many, I suspect they had seen themselves making money in a sunny clime surrounded by free-spending ex-pats and tourists. Somewhere along the line, the dream has gone sour. 
I may well have misread the signs but the couple in that bar in Jávea looked beaten down by the business. I don’t know anything about their personal circumstances but it wasn’t hard to see that neither of them was enjoying themselves. Nor did they look as if they had seen the sun for a very long time and their flat upstairs sported sagging curtains fixed with string. So much for that place in the sun! The overall impression was one of defeat and it needn’t have been.     
People who are not aware of the need to present themselves well are unlikely to see the need to present their business well either. The hospitality industry in Spain presents daily challenges in an area where there is much competition and most of it of exceptional quality. Anyone who enters the business unaware of this is committing financial suicide in not keeping up with the game. Like most dissatisfied customers, I did not explain why I wouldn’t be coming back.  
If your dream is to run a bar in the sun, why not try for it, many people make a great success of it. These are the people who know what the challenges are and who are prepared to put in the hours. The less prepared often find they have committed their hard earned savings to an enterprise that leaves them exhausted, disillusioned and sometimes very broke. It will however leave you lots of stories to tell when you are propping up someone else’s bar.