About Us

In 1977 Karen Jones B.HS.A.I qualified as a horse riding instructor .  Having spent 20 years teaching people to ride teaching people to dance seemed a natural progression and far easier as you were not dealing with an animal that had a mind and will of it's own. In April 1997 Karen then took her dance instructor exam with the I.D.T.A .  In July 2007 she also qualified as a Zumba Instructor.  In 1999 Karen choreographed a dance she called Islands in the Stream.  That year it was nominated as dance of the Year but as it had only just been published not many people had tried it.  However it stayed at the number one spot in the Linedancer Magazine charts for 5 consecutive months.  In the year 2000 it was voted as "Dance of the Year "and in 2007 it was voted as "Dance of the Decade".

In January 2005 Karen and her husband Barry moved to Spain and bought a restaurant called Raw.  They later changed the name to the Dining Room.  The restaurant was situated in Calle Moncayo Fuengirola Malaga.  This was known by the Britts as "Fish Alley" and by the Spanish as the "Road of the Hungry" as it was a comple street of Restaurants and bars.  In the height of the summer the place was heaving and it was difficult to pass as there were just so many people.  In the winter it was like a ghost town as the town relied heavily on the tourist trade.  In October 2005 7 months later they sold the restaurant. At that time they were undecided as to whether they should return home to the UK or stay in Spain.  They missed their family and friends and it was non stop work running a bar / restaurant.  Particularly difficult working in a kitchen in the intense heat Having only spent 7 months in Spain they felt that they had not given it long enough and decided to buy a seafront cafe.

 

Their new venture was called the Salsa Cafe and the previous owner ran Salsa Classes there.   Karen ran a few salsa and line dance classes there in the first few months as by now she was missing the dancing.  This was great until the football season started as they were a sports bar/cafe.  At this point with matches every evening the classes had to stop. By September they had made a decision to retun to the UK but it was not as simple as that as they had to sell their bar first.  As the tourist season was almost finishing they put the bar up for sale.  It is a bit like selling a house only more difficult.  So it took a few months before anyone even looked at it. Eventually circumstances changed and they were forced to come home.  In December 2006 Karen made her last three flights in as many days filling up her suitcases and moving back home. The bar was then being run by the staff.  There was still alot of work to do contacting and liasing with the commercial estate agents. Finally in March they got an offer on the bar and by May the bar was sold.

Many people have asked us whether we miss Spain and the lovely weather.  There were many days when the weather was so bad that we could no longer see out of the windows as the sand storms had covered the glass and as it was wet sand it just stuck to the windows.  The sea got so rough that the beach was washed away.  When the wind and rain subsided the Council had to replace the sand on the Fuengirola beach by ferry ing sand from the beach of Benalmadena.  After days of replacing the beach another storm would wash it away and they would have to start all over again. When you look at these pictures it does not seem possible. What we do miss from Spain is the bar owners and friends that we made.