Restaurant closures in Marbella, and shopping spree in Malaga

It is episode 110 of the weekly Marbella lifestyle podcast presented by expat husband and wife PJ Lopez (@pjlopez1marbella) and Hannah Murray (@radiohannah). If you are new to Marbella with Him & Her, PJ is a marketing consultant in Marbella and Hannah is a radio presenter on Talk Radio Europe, as well as being a weekly contributor on TV on the show Good Morning Spain.

In this week’s episode they talk about a controversial discussion that took place on the TV show I'm A Celebrity South Africa in which David Haye, the former boxer, spoke about a thing he has called 'Ugly Duck Syndrome'.

Hannah also chats about a couple of interview highlights she did during the week, one of which was with Rock and Roll icon Marty Wilde who is still recording albums at the age of 87. She also chatted to the inspirational Franck Benhamou about his upcoming walk around France where he aims to sample the food and drink of each location he stops. A very apt interview she did was with last year’s Apprentice winner Dean Franklin who has just been to Marbella on holiday with his family. She chatted to him about the Apprentice, his air conditioning business and this year’s finalists (the day before the winner was crowned)

They talk about the International Theatre Studio play reading they went to during the week which was based on a popular British sitcom set during World War 2.

Hannah opens up about it being 4 years since her mum passed away and discusses how she felt and the struggles with grief and what form it takes over the years. The 4 year anniversary of her passing was on a Friday, so she met with her father as normal, but this time at Kalima on San Pedro beach front.

PJ mentions some of the restaurants that have closed down, one of which was a favourite of theirs, Benisty. He also speaks about the Taco place closing which was of no surprise as they had never promoted themselves or did any social media.

On Friday PJ met up with his work friends Ysa and Joshua for drinks at Soul by Breathe at the NAC Padel Club in San Pedro where they enjoyed some amazingly crispy sweet potato fries and chicken fingers. They then moved on to the beach for a drink at Alabadero, PJ and Hannah's wedding venue which looks nothing like it did when they got married. Hannah joined them after she had been for a catch up with good friend Audrey. They started at The Hogan Stand for Happy Hour (which happens every Friday between 5pm and 7pm). They then went to Boulebar which is just on the corner before the pedestrian area. At the weekends it is heaving with local Spanish as they have live music. They then headed to Bar Guerra for tapas before finishing in La Kasita Bar and Tapas.

Saturday, they headed to Malaga to McAurthur Glen the designer outlet which is part of Plaza Mayor. Hannah managed to have some successful purchases as did PJ. Listen to hear what they bought and why. After they went to IKEA to get a few items.

Hannah mentions a great event coming up in Malaga called the Malaga Book Fair from 30 April to 10 May in which Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh will be one of the guests.

This week’s articles from their collaborators The Euro Weekly News include grants for renovating homes in Spain, the upcoming petrol station strikes and the average number of enquiries a property listing receives in the area.