I have been following Matthew1981's threads re bars for sale and wish him luck.

Many of the replies including the most recent, re Slam Bar, suggest that the outgoing owners cannot make a living outside July & August anymore. The suggestion is that CVO used to be busier outside of the peak holiday season.

If this is the case, what could have caused a slowdown in trade in the quieter months? The Algarve has so much going for it, even out of season, and has an enviable climate record throughout the year.

We pretty well only go out of season, and don't mind it being quiet. The only problem is that most restaurants close, so we just cook. Can't give you any comparisons against earlier years. If we talk to people on the plane going out, most of them are golfers. So maybe it is on the greens all day, and in the clubhouse in the evening.

I think it comes down to costs for two reasons. Firstly, the overheads are higher making it too expensive to keep going and also, it doesn't cost much more for an all inclusive holiday in the Maldives or Caribbean. In fact last year we had two weeks AI in the Maldives for the same price as B&B in a hotel in Armacao. Admittedly, that was a brochure holiday in ADP and internet shopping for the Maldives but even so!

All I can say is that the hotel in Armaco must have been bloody expensive!
Julia and I are going to the Maldives for a week in Jan next year and its costing me £3,000. Admittadly all inclusive, but even so!

The hotel would have cost us around £1600 and Maldives worked out at £2000. I agree if I had spent as much time researching Portugal I would have got a much better deal. As this was a marketing exercise to sell the Maldives to the SWMBO I wasn't looking for the cheapest place in the Algarve