Frenzy of phone calls and likes to acquire bar in medieval village in Spain

The new owners of a bar-restaurant and guesthouse in the tiny village of Monleón in Salamanca, whose advertisement went viral when the town hall posted the offer, are three young men from Madrid. They will run the bar, reopen the restaurant with a new gastronomic offer and manage the guesthouse. They pay 92 euros per month for everything, including housing.

Thousands of people responded to the call from Monleón town hall to run the bar-restaurant and guesthouse in the medieval walled village which has its own castle. It is one of the most unknown jewels in Salamanca but the wonders of digital communication placed the village at the centre of interest that reached the other side of the Atlantic.

The cause? The local bar-restaurant which comes with its own rural house and is owned by the town hall. It is one of the great tourist resources that this small village, which is home to 95 inhabitants, has. However, of the 95, only about 70 actually live there. The bar is next to the village walls and a few weeks ago the town hall put out a tender to keep it and reopen it.

The offer was really good: 50 euros per month for the bar and restaurant with living quarters and another 41 euros per month for the house. The properties are maintained by the town hall, which has taken care of all the necessary repairs before putting the contract out to tender. But behind the offer there is no interest in money, but another objective: to put Monleón on the map. And it has succeeded in doing so.

"It's been crazy. People were calling asking if it was a joke or a scam. People from Cuba have called, they put it on a website in Chile... calls at 1am, at all hours", says Susana Moya, mayor of the village for two months since she replaced her predecessor.

The advertisement was placed on the platform Negocio Rural, the award-winning business bank of the Salamanca mountains which looks for people to take over running bars, shops and industries. The Monleón offer had more than 3,000 'likes' on Facebook, 591 comments and was shared 1,100 times. The platform confirms that it has been its most viewed advertisement.

The mayor admits that every time the phone rang and she thought about not picking up the phone, a question crossed her mind: "What if they are the right candidate? And she answered once again. Interested parties from all over Spain and abroad asked if the price was true, how to participate and how much it cost.

On the issue of price, the mayor is clear. "I am very clear about this and we wanted someone to keep it because we need Monleón to have a bar and the restaurant to reopen and for the tourists, who come in large numbers, to be able to stay overnight if they want to," she says. The price was not a priority: "We have never wanted to speculate with the bar and housing to make money, what we want is the service".

The town hall is clear that its objective is for the service to last, "Now winter is coming and it's difficult, we couldn't ask for money and have them close in two months". The main objective is to get the walled enclosure declared a BIC and prevent its deterioration, something they have been pursuing for years without any help from the authorities.

After the flood of calls, 41 people submitted bids. Each and every one of them was advised by the mayor and went through a process in which the whole village was involved. "Every time someone came to the village asking questions, they were taken to see the bar, they were shown the rural house, the flat... we all want it to open," says Moya.

The surprise came when the 'envelopes' with the bids were opened. The mayor advised everyone not to focus on the economic offer, but on the project. "What we have found is incredible. Behind each proposal there is a story that has touched our hearts. For many, coming to Monleón was a life project, some told me that reopening the bar was their only option to have a decent home," she explains.

Now it's up to the three young men from Madrid who were looking to pursue their dream in the countryside, to put Monleón on the map. They have already started to get to know the people of the village while they wait for the renovations to be finished so that they can open up.