Hi Adam,

Hubby & I are coming out for a short beak 4 - 8th dec, we are staying at Sol Magalluf Park, will you be open at this time? I think I am right in thinking your place is quite close the above hotel..! Also, would you happen to know if places like The Fountain & Eastenders are open.

As we have never stayed at any Sol hotels before we don't know if they have any sort of entertainment.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Deb.

Hi Adam
I suppose most places are shutting up this weekend, what sort of trade do you get during the winter months? Called in a couple of nights early October and you seemed to be doing well, the hypnotist show was very good. We can not get flights to Majorca from N Ireland during the winter months, such a pity because we would love to see the island then. Some of the winter photos on BIGJIMFINNS site look great. Hope you have a good winter season Adam and hope to call in again next year.

Robert

Hi Adam

Myself, husband and two daughters are going to Magaluf on 24th July for 3 weeks staying in a private apartment near Trinidad Sol so not far from your bar. Never been to your bar before as we normally stay in Palma Nova but will definately try it this year. What entertainment will you have on this year? Also, do you open for breakfast and what time do you serve food to?

About 15 weeks to go, can't wait, love Magaluf!!

Best Wishes
Catherine

Hi Catherine

I haven't been on here for quite a while, and was quite surprised to find this thread near the top of the list!

We are not putting on Live Entertainment this year, at least not on the same basis as before.

Last year we had just about as good a year as we could have had, we had shows on 7 nights a week, we were full for most of the shows, most of the time, yet since there were few Hotels around us open in either March or November, we ended the year with only just enough to pay our rent through the winter. Scant reward for 2 of us working up to 18 hours a day.

This year we've done some work through the winter, and previous visitors will find the Bar very different, with no stage, but a bigger kitchen which now includes a Stone based Pizza Oven, and a Tandoor Oven (which my Chef has been asking me for, for years).

When the season gets into full swing, I will be happy to let people know where the Hypnotist Show and Drag Show will be appearing, and whilst we might still do the Karaoke, there will be no 7 nights a week entertainment as before.

We will still be doing Breakfasts (as a lot of other Bars around us do also) and making more of the evening meals, and also late night food, both eat in and take away.

The Bar is still closed for the improvements, although we do hope to be open for the beginning of May.

Best wishes

Adam

PS I have not been lazy through the winter, as we have now set up an Auction House over here!!! British style Auction Rooms - Auction every Thursday at 6pm. Did that sound like a plug? Sorry!

Hi Adam
I hope you will have re-opened by the time we go to Palmanova in May, we shall look forward to seeing you again.
I didnt have a good year in 2008 as I had to cancel our holiday to Costa del Sol when I discovered I had Cancer. However I had an operation and am now back to good health.
Hope to see you and Stephanie soon.
Sue

Sorry to here about the live entertainment.Had some great night at yours and Rubys.Seems like it the end of an era.Last 6 years been to Palma Nova and it has been a big part of the holiday.

Hi Sue,

Sorry to hear you've been unwell, but pleased that you're recovering. I'm also hoping that we're open asap, but I'm afraid it's now down to the authorities, (Electric, Water, Town Hall) who work at their own speed.

Hi Tricky

I'm afraid it's a sign of the times. I was a Pro Musician for many years, and it was always Live Music we wanted to show, but we need to look at the bottom line, and people are too crafty, and they'll drink in the Hotel room, or at a cheap bar, then arrive just in time for the show, and then leave straight after. All Live Music Bars are having the same trouble. Maybe things will change in the future, but for now, I need to pay the bills!

Hi Adam

Thanks for replying. Sorry to hear things were a bit difficult. We would still be happy to come to Goodfellows for a meal and a few drinks and perhaps karaoke if it's on. I suppose it must be a bit of a worry about the weak pound too. As my husband and I were saying we'll just have to take a little bit more spending money than usual but it wouldn't put us off going to Spain, we all just love Magaluf!! You can't beat it!!


Best Wishes
Catherine

Hi Adam Hi Stef Hi Steven

Hope you are all doing well and you will or have the bar open now.
We are travelling out on 21 May for 8 nights and should have been staying at the Inn Apartments in Magaluf However we had booked the apartment with Xcapewithus.com and guess what they have from 30April ceased trading!!! . so looks like the only chance of getting anything back is via the credit card. We have now rebooked into the Don Bigote in Palma Nova just hope Alpharooms dont go the same way!!! Will will be certainly paying you a visit but do hope the Karaoke is still trading in your bar

Craig & Norma

Hi Adam
would you know if there is an Abba tribute around magaluf at the moment, it doesnt matter what there like, a group of us are coming to Magaluf 3 weeks today and one our themes is Abba,
hopefully we will call in 2 see you for a beer or 2

Hi just back from 8 day in the sun and am sorry to report that Goodfellows is no longer open, such a shame as it was a great chill out bar.

Craig

I thought the bar was closed for refurbishment? Hope so, it would be a shame if it had closed for good.

Hi All
Adam did mention on another posting recently that he was closed for renovations and that he would reopen some time in May ? I hope all is well

Robert

just back myself and its still closed. rumour has it that adam's given up!
is that true adam?

Hi Folks - it's me!!!

I've been away in UK for a little while, and haven't been on here for some weeks, so I'd like to bring everyone up to speed so to speak, especially people who've become friends over the past years, and who deserve to know what's been happening.

(Draws deep breath)

The Bar closed at the end of October last year, a month earlier than we would have liked, but all the Hotels around us were closed, and we simply couldn't justify staying open. Steff and I had worked (upto) 18 hours a day every day since March, and frankly the loss of a further month's income ( a month when we normally ran the stock down to give us a bit of extra winter money) was a big blow. We sat and thought carefully about what we were doing and why we were doing it, and despite our love of Live Music, it became clear that this was not the most profitable part of our business, and although it filled our Bar every night it was not profitable.

Alongside all of this we had an extraordinary situation where although it was one bar, we had two landlords both of whom were very reluctant to meet their obligations, and I had spent over 8,000 euros during last year to improve the electrics, and I confronted one of the landlords, and effectively had a showdown with him, where he refused to pay his share. I spoke to the other landlord (a much more reasonable person) and to cut a long story short (I could honestly write a book) we decided to split the Bar in half, and wave goodbye to the errant landlord, although not using all my fingers.

So we had decided to have no entertainment, and a smaller more manageable bar, with improved electrics, toilets, roof, air conditioning, and a larger Kitchen all seemed a really good idea, particularly with the potential of a poor year's trading ahead of us. It was by now January.

We contacted an Engineer, and he put together a "Project" which is a legal requirement over here, because wouldn't you know, the half of the Bar we'd got had no electric, no water, no drains, no toilets, no kitchen etc etc. However we costed the whole thing up, ,and the figures worked, and we agreed who would pay for what, and instructed the builders, electricians etc, and I agreed a new contract with our single landlord, and off we went. Ali (my Chef) and I spent weeks demolishing the old seating units, making the bar look a lot bigger than we expected, whilst our Landlord applied for the building permission ( a different thing from the approval of the project, even though it's dealt with at the same department of the Town Hall!) and also he found some of his own legal paperwork was out of date, and by early March we paid the deposit on the rent (over 7,000 euros) and paid the initial payment to the Electrician (over 4,000 euros) and agreed to start paying rent in May, by which time (I was ridiculed when I questioned whether the work will be finished by then) the Bar would be open and we would be into our traditional busy period.

The days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned into months, and we eventually got the building permission in mid April, and to be fair the bulk of the work was completed very quickly, I paid for the tiling, and by the end of April the Bar was maybe only a couple of weeks from being completed - except of the little matter of Electric and Water! The Electrician (a personal friend of the landlord) worked when he felt like it, and he'd already said that it could take 30 days after he had finished for Gesa (the electicity supplier) to approve the work, and I'd heard from someone seperately that it could then take them another 2 weeks to supply and fit the Meter. So by early May we were looking at a possibility of up to six weeks delay after the Electrician had finished, and he looked at least a couple of weeks away from that.

On the first of May my landlord rang me to ask for our rent for the month of May. I went balistic. It could conceivably have been July before the Bar could be open, and I'd not had a penny of income since October, I'd paid a fortune on reforming the Bar, and now he wanted me to pay rent on an empty Bar.

There then ensued a few days of heated exchanges when he calmy announced that if I didn't pay rent then he would sue me, and I explained calmy (as I held him against the wall by his throat) that I would smash every tile, knock down every brick, and pull out every wire in his unit, using his head as a lump hammer. Things were not pleasant between us!

We'd had enough. Enough of the bar, enough of Spanish landlords, enough of Spanish beaurocracy, and we were skint - and I mean skint.

After he'd spent a couple of days in Hospital with his nerves (seriously) my Landlord and I had a meeting, and he said he'd been told by his family to buy me out of the contract, compensate me for the work that I'd done, and take the Bar back. I felt bad, whatever our differences, he was a nice guy and he was ill. He made me an offer which was not enough, but it was an offer.

My wife and I spoke about it long and hard, and I went back to him with a figure that we wanted, and after a couple of hours of discussion we agreed on a figure which was a lot more than he wanted to offer me, and a lot less than I wanted to accept, but the Bar was still not complete, and we were already seeing a very marked reduction in visitor numbers, so we agreed a deal.

When he paid me the money of the monday, it was 2,000 euros short - apparantly he been asking everyone he knew, the Bank, his family, his friends etc etc and he simply couldn't raise the money. He still owes me that money, and as we speak (some 5 weeks later) the Bar is still closed, the electic is not connected, there is no water.

I wish him no ill, but with every day that passes it appears that the deal was a better one for me than it was for him.

As for the other half of the bar - it's still in the same state as it was last October, except that we gutted it, and he's already lost over 20,000 euros in rent, and it will cost him at least another 20,000 to have a new project, new electic system etc etc - and there's no way he'll be open this year. I bet he wishes he's paid me that 8,000 euros now - don't you?
Best wishes, Adam

A sign of the times. When we were in Puerto Pollensa at the beginning of May it was noticeably quieter than normal for that time and we saw numerous bars/restaurants/shops which had closed or at least not opened yet for the season. The local English language Mallorca Bulletin was full of adverts for bar/restaurant businesses for sale. A local that I got into conversation with said that most Spaniards on the island had not yet fully realised that there was a world recession going on and were still looking for high prices for their property. Wait for the crash she said.
To be fair most businesses had not increased their food/drink prices versus last September, but the value of the Pound is killing spending power. We'll keep going back (already booked for next two visits) but it's sure becoming expensive.

Hi Sorry you have closed up, good luck in whatever you do next xx

Hi Adam
So sorry to hear your story.
We went past your bar lots of times when we were over in early May and were disappointed not to see you both.
We wish you well in whatever you do next.
Sue

I have sympathy with the Landlords who actually own the properties and have had no say what so ever in the business it certainly can not be the fault of them for the failure of Goodfellows do they really need to be held against the wall and threatened by a very stressed tenant only because of the very poor judgement of the tenant who in my opinion is lucky to have come out of it with something at all after agreeing rents.
Unfortunately this situation is not unique to Mallorca many bars are closing in many resorts and no one owes these people a living it is the risk that they take, unfortunately a crystal ball would have been of no use in this world wide crunch situation. I realise that some may not agree with me having enjoyed pleasant times at Goodfellows, the bottom line is they did not spend enough money.