Dear Sir,
NIGEL'S Stack's letter (11/10) of lament about all things Mallorquin sounded like he was writing it on the way to the airport, to return to all things bright and beautiful in the UK! Well, I've some news for him, just today over half the MP's in the Houses of Parliament will receive letters, about their expenses claims, - that it's pay back time. Thousands of pubs and small businesses are closing down weekly in Britain, where also there are foreclosures on mortgages, and charitable landlords are also hard to find when it comes to rent prices.
He did get one thing right, which is that there are many borderline greasy spoon type cafes on the island for that section of tourists who come here, to frequent those places, the volume of cheap tourism that hither too came here, still comes, but with less money in their pockets, and for Brits and ever dwindling pounds vis-à-vis the euro. Just recently an expert financial report states it expects the pound to move further down against the euro in 6-12 months (or less) so maybe we will see the euro worth 1.10 pounds next season - a further blow. In my 40 years of living in Majorca, I have always thought the hardest business to have is a bar/cafe where owner operated, the owner/operator can put in up to a 14 hour day, seven days per week for the 5-6 month season. Does the financial return warrant such a work load, well it had better, as with 6 of the season months with the prospect of no operations/income, capital is needed to live on during the lean 1/2 year. I wonder if there is another wave of gullibles ready to spend their life savings to obtain a traspaso here, and experience the previously described work load? Not a good time to try to sell up and move on.
Yours sincerely,
Graham Phillips