almerimartoday

I can´t believe it is only 12 years old. See here on the Guardian site for information about their bouncing balls today.

 

Click here to see Alcor´s featured properties of the month.

I had reason to call in at Copo earlier today and noticed that they are advertising the fact that they will be open 7 days a week until Sunday 12 September 2010.

Jamon, chorizo, oil, olives and much more.

The article here on the Ideal site has more details (in Spanish).

The article here on the Euro Weekly News site provides details of the bust up between Ryanair and the Murcia tourist authorities that may lead to Ryanair dropping a lot of flights into Murcia.

Jon from MacGowans has been in touch to let us know about the following information.

 

MacGowans

 

This Saturday (24 July 2010) Macgowans has live music with Johny Bevan a new singer to Almerimar.

 

Also now the HOT weather is here and its too hot for a large meal MacGowans launches their Light lunch Specials from 5.50 euros,

Soup and a Sandwich (of your choice)

Wraps

and Smaller versions of their main menu such as curry.

 

Read More for details of why I recommend this business.

When I was walking around the port I noticed that the Yes Yachting office on Darsena 1 has closed.

I understand they are moving into the old Roquetas Promociones office between Darsena 1 & 2 close to the Nautico restaurant. We wish them luck in their new location.

 

Click here to see Alcor´s featured properties of the month.

Further to the photo that I published a couple of weeks ago. We understand that the new fruitería just along from the chemists going towards the back entrance to the Yachting and Golf restaurant is now open.

It is always good to hear of new businesses opening in Almerimar. We wish this one every success.

As we didn´t have too much to do earlier today Jacqui & I popped up to the new El Corte Inglés store in El Ejido.

Wow, was I disappointed.

Read More for details.

 

For the past few months the Lidl on the other side of the 409 turn off to Almerimar from the E15 motorway has been undergoing refurbishment. For the last two weeks it has been closed but it reopened today.

Jacqui and I were in need of lots of boring household stuff so we called in to the new shop this windy afternoon.

Read More for details.

As you probably know, El Corte Inglés opens in El Ejido tomorrow, 28 May 2010.

You can see an article here on the Ideal site about the upcoming opening.

It is not often I quote from other sites on the internet without giving attribution. However, I will leave you to guess where this screen shot came from. It was published on 22 October 2007:

Jacqui twisted my arm and took me out on a bike ride this afternoon. While out we noticed a new business setting up shop in Darsena 2 just along from Emporio XL.

Read More for details and some more photos of the windows.

Gibraltar's tax haven days may be numbered

An historic treaty between Spain and Gibraltar is reported to be almost ready to be signed.  The move is intended to prevent the British territory being used for money laundering but has been criticised in Spain for recognising the colony.  

Read the full story here.

Inés from El Arroz has been in touch to say that she has a contact who has told her that the new El Corte Inglés in El Ejido is to open on 28 May.

Have a look at Alcor´s properties of the month here. There are some bargains to be had.

Welcome to our latest advertiser, Sunchaser Charters. They provide yacht chartering services and sail and stay holidays.

We have added their banner on our Advertisements page.

Read More for further details.

Over the time we have been here we have bought lots of good stuff in the special items areas of Lidl and other things on special offer from week to week. Including radio controlled thermometers, golf shoes, jars of tuna, beer and many more things.

Up until now we have relied on picking up the regular advertisements in the shop. However now I have progressed on to checking the deals in advance on the Lidl Spain website here.

This has also prompted me to see whether Aldi have similar deals in their shop in El Ejido. The answer is yes and you can see them here.

I am hoping that Lidl will be doing some golf specials soon as I will soon be in need of some golf shoes and the ones they sell are good value.

A few days ago Inés from El Arroz mentioned that she had heard that El Corte Inglés were hoping to open in El Ejido by mid May. The latest news that you can see here on La Voz de El Ejido is late May or June 2010 with the associated Hipercor supermarket opening later.

So it definitely looks like it should be opening soon.

Welcome to our latest advertiser, The Great Golf Company. You can see their advert on the Advertisements page in the menu on the left.

Read More for more information about The Great Golf Company and advertising with us.

UPDATED: 14 April 2010 - Inés from El Arroz has been in touch to let us know that the target date for opening is apparently 14 May 2010.

We had reason to pop up to El Ejido from Almerimar earlier today. While there I took a few snaps of the progress on the El Corte Inglés building.

Read More to see a couple more photos.

British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia have taken a further step towards creating Europe's second-largest airline group after signing their long-awaited merger deal.

The merger, which they expect to complete in late 2010, will yield an airline with 408 aircraft and carrying more than 58 million passengers a year. Read the full article on Sky News.

S.R. Accountancy is pleased to announce that Sharon from S R Accountancy is able to offer a range of services including Preparation of Budgets, Cashflows, help with general accounting, renewal of Residence Cards and completion of Non Resident Tax Returns.

Read More for a little more information from Sharon about budgets and cashflow.

As it is Easter week El Arroz are not doing their regular Thursday night discount deal this week.

As you can see from the photo above, the Lidl just the other side of the motorway towards El Ejido from Almerimar is being refurbished at the moment. It looks like it is being extended as well. I am sure it will be improved once the work is finished but it is a bit of a mess at the moment.

We tend to go to Lidl every week or two and stock up on well priced basic products then use Copo and Mercadona for the rest of the shopping so the work is not too inconvenient for us.

It will be interesting to see whether Lidl is finished before the Almerimar clubhouse. Anyone want a bet?

Picking up on a comment made recently by paco-c. Looks like another bar has changed hands and looks like it is reopening soon. I know that Cindy and Kurt have been preparing for this opening for some time.

We noticed the signs going up when we were at MacGowans for the post golf prize giving today.

What was El Farol, then the new La Bahía then La Gaviota will soon be opening its door again as CK´s. We wish Kurt and Cindy the best of luck with their new venture.

People are still talking about the fantastic job they did organising the San Juan event last year. Hopefully they will consider organising another one this year. If they do we will definitely plan to go along.

As a lot of readers probably know, Phil has to close Fusion as it was not cost effective to run it (a sad loss for Almerimar as I enjoyed some good music events there).

As I was visiting a PC Support customer late this afternoon I noticed that there was work going on in the bar. I popped my head around the door and found out that the place is reopening as Habana Bar again this coming Saturday, 27 March 2010.  Probably around midday.

We are pleased to welcome our latest advertiser on our Advertisements page, Direct Rentals in Spain.

Please note that as we are a not-for-profit community site all advertising with us is free as long as you provide the material (logos, banners etc.). Also, your business gets a mention on the front page every time you provide us some material for the site.

Read More for information about Direct Rentals in Spain.

We are pleased to welcome our latest advertiser on our Advertisements page, S. R. Accountancy.

Please note that as we are a not-for-profit community site all advertising  with us is free as long as you provide the material (logos, banners etc.). Also, your business gets a mention on the front page every time you provide us some material for the site.

Read More for information about the services provided by S. R. Accountancy.

Have a look at Alcor´s latest "Properties of the month" here. There are some great bargains to be had.

Typically Spanish has this story about Ryanair´s decision to cancel some routes out of Granada... 

A difference of opinion between the Granada Provincial Government, controlled by the Socialists, and Granada City Hall, controlled by the PP, is being blamed for the departure of Ryanair services from Granada-Jaén, Federico García Lorca airport.

The argument was over the subsidy being paid to the airline and the airline says it will leave unless the 1.3 million € agreed in 2005 is paid, with the airline speaking of the ‘excessive costs’ at the airport. For now, four of the six flight destinations operated by the airline from Granada are cancelled – those are the services to London, Liverpool, Girona and Madrid.

The Spanish News site has a story here about Aifos, a Malaga based company that has been involved in some developments in Almerimar.

Euro Weekly News has this story..

As of February 1, 2010, the plan for direct purchase of vehicles, launched by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade Plan 2000E, recorded 268,793 sales since May 2009.

The Government is very pleased with the results and said that Plan 2000E has had a dynamic effect on a number of fronts, which after months of declines has contributed significantly to both vehicle sales plus a reduction on emissions due to newer cars being ‘cleaner’ than those of yesteryear.

All good news if you are in the market to purchase a new vehicle. However, the plan has not been seen in such a positive light by many used car dealers who deal in cars more than a few years old or outside the technicalities of the scheme. For a variety of reasons, second hand or pre-owned cars command premium prices in Spain. Especially in the luxury and sports car marketplace, it’s often cheaper to purchase from Germany, Belgium or the UK and even after transport, importation and transfers have been paid, one can still make savings over buying in Spain.

Thanks to Iain for letting us know about this new deal now available at the Asador restaurant that is now open again here in Almerimar. This is one of our favourite lower priced restaurants in Almerimar.

Hi

Thought you would like to know that the waiter at the Asador told me that since re-opening they now have an evening menu del dia  @ €15 and some platos combinados

Cheers

Iain D. Kemp

The article here in La Voz de El Ejido explains that the process of recruiting staff for the new El Corte Inglés in El Ejido is underway. I guess this is a sign that the building is progressing well and is likely to open later this year.

The article here on the Ideal site says they received 15,335 CVs from people interested in working there.

Work has now started on remodelling the bar a couple of doors down from Alcor that some time ago used to be El Farol. I understand that the work is unlikely to be completed until March.

The changes I know about include shortening the bar to provide extra space for customers between the bar and the kitchen. This will allow people to stand or sit at one of the windows into the outside passage area. This could be handy when there ends up being an indoor smoking ban in public places in Spain. As people can be outside having a cigarette while chatting to someone inside.

There is also going to be a redesign of the low seating and long tables along the wall opposite the bar that made the place feel a bit like a corridor or a train carriage.

Kurt was telling me about this when I bumped into him while he was working away on the place today.

When we first came to Almerimar we used to like El Farol and went there quite a lot. So it will be interesting to see what the place is like when it reopens.

We hope to take some pictures of the new place when it opens.

Alcor Properties have just updated their properties of the month page for Jan/Feb 2010. You can see the latest featured properties in Almerimar here.

Sharon told me last night that Mariposa is closing down and they are selling off everything, so it´s well worth a visit to the shop in Roquetas.

To get there by car, drive past Playa Serena golf club, turn left at the roundabouit, continue along the road passing the India Gate restaurant on your left. Continue along the road for about 5 mins and the shop is on the left.

The local spanish newspaper website La Voz de El Ejido is now back up and running again after a Christmas break. Prior to today the last stories published were on 24 December 2009.

For example, you can see a story about the local Xmas festivities here on their site.

Thanks to Brian T for pointing out this story. He saw it in The Times but I couldn´t find it online on their site. However, there is a story on The Guardian online.

Paddy Power has made Monarch Airlines the favourite in its "Next Airline to go bust?" market, cutting its odds from 50-1 to 4-1.

See here to read the story from The Guardian.

Today we received another Xmas message from an interesting business here in Almerimar that we wrote a story about earlier this year. Click on the image above to see a bigger version of the Xmas message and click here for a bit more information about the business.

We have just received this very nice Christmas image via email from Mediterra and Boatcompany. Click on the picture above to see the seasons greetings from these two Almerimar businesses.

UPDATED 17 DEC: Telephone bookings can be made on 950609546

We have just received the following from Paul, via Jon, at Mac Gowan´s:

 

Mac Gowan´s Christmas Day Lunch

Two Courses (Main and Desert)

Only 18E.

 

 

Mac Gowan´s New Years Eve

See in New Year (Twice)

With Groovy Phil.

We will update this story with details of how you can book once we have them.

Charmaine, from DBJ, has been in touch and asked us to update the banner we have on our Advertisers page.

You can see the new DBJ banner above.

The old gym next to the ´The Square´ is now open as a Chinese bits and pieces shop. Also, according to Alan  the new fishmongers next to the butchers is now open.

Also, Alan has a great new recipe for a beef stew with dumplings that he cooked using shin beef from the butcher. We look forward to publishing the recipe at some point.

After a second day of competitive golf and the third day in a row playing we decided to be lazy this evening. So we got ourselves a chicken taken-away from Asador on Darsena 3 in Almerimar. We popped down and collected it from the restaurant.

We bought a whole chicken that we split between the two of us. Together with a jacket potato each and we shared a tub of their rather nice ali-oli for just over 10 euros.

Well worth it for some simple filling food to eat in front of the telly.

Time for a snooze now.

Yesterday I was parked in the centre of Almerimar and popped my head around the door of what was the old gym just over the road from ´The Square´.

It looks to me that the rumour that it is going to be a Chinese shop selling odds and sods may be correct. Not sure whether this is in addition to the one in Darsena 1 or replacing it. 

Just back from a fantastic evening trying out the food at the La Soleá restaurant. We were invited to the restaurant to try out the food in return for writing an article about it.

Thanks to Manolo Berenguel (the owner), Raúl and Danniella (head waiter and waitress), plus José, who is Manolo´s son, and Fabio for all their hard work in the kitchen.

The food was really top quality. We enjoyed every dish we had. It is too late now to write much about the evening so we will do so tomorrow once we have a little free time.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we have been discussing the idea of organising a group night out there one evening in early to mid-January. Hopefully we will be able to publish more details about this pretty soon.

We also have a copy of their rather special New Years Eve menu. Not cheap but with what reads like excellent food and an open bar after the meal it could definitely appeal to quite a lot of people who fancy a special night out. We will publish that as well tomorrow all being well.