⌛ Had enough in uk

?????????? Friend's Talk?????????

Bruce, not sure of course where you got this from but it is not true. My wife is my buisiness Partner. We are 60% her 40% me, This has changed a little now, as we can have 51%/49% she will always have the bigger share, that's the way it is. Trust, is where it all boils down to. And of course any land that is in the buisness name will always be hers (Coops/Corperations excepted and I am never sure about these)

I do agree with you though, Anyone, should always be so very carefull about Partnerships outside a family and apart from a wife, even then, Caution should be paramount.



Jack P.

 

Nowhere near that easy any more Garbonzo. If you are married, you still have a nightmare scenario getting your wife a visa for the UK. If you enter as an illegal in the dead of night or in the back of a lorry, and the only English you know is "political asylum" you'll probably get all the help you need. Link this thread to the recent thread entitled Tourist Visa for the US and you'll make the connection.

As far as starting a business in UK is concerned, think again.

After lengthy military service followed by 10 years with the diplomatic service, I was a successful publican having owned, at different times, 12 British pubs, all of different character. My final pub was the most successful of all and I worked 100 hours a week to create it. I bought it when I saw that it had been particularly badly run and saw a business opportunity. Within weeks it was showing a healthy profit and the profits continued to climb. Always reasonably busy, but on Wed - Sun it was 6 deep at the bar and wall to wall people. It provided employment for 14 full time staff (13 barmaids and 1 cellarman) plus 2 part-time cooks. All of my staff were first-rate, and, to pinch a phrase from Rhoody, they knew the difference between having a job and doing a job. But it became a victim of its own success; officialdom, beaurocracy and red tape started to take over, and the unannounced visits from Weights and Measures, VAT inspectors, Customs and Excise, Health and Hygiene, Business rates assessors, Council inspectors, Licencing officers and any other public official that could crawl out of the woodwork increased at an alarming rate. The final straw came during a visit by the odious and egotistical health and safety department. My lovely 300 year old pub had a beautiful oak beamed and red brick inglenook at the end of the building. Into this I had put a wood burning dog grate for an open log fire. The inspector decided that I needed to put a plastic sign on the inglenook which read "hot" !!! I told them that I would also put a "hot" sign on it in Braille so that the guide dogs could read it too, and then chucked them out of my pub and told them never to return. However, I knew this would put me on a collision course with officialdom, so I rapidly sold up. I paid a visit to the same pub before I left UK. The staff had been reduced to 4 part-timers, and the landlord was struggling to make a living. Start a business in UK ??? Think again.

My son, a skilled and versatile motor mechanic, established a thriving garage business in the UK through sheer hard work despite being refused a government business loan. He employed two other mechanics and paid for a junior mechanic to attend evening college and get his certificates. Two years ago he also found that red tape was strangling him, and the more he put into the business the more the government took. So he sold the business and he, his wife and two small children, emigrated to Perth where he lived in Durch and worked in Wanneroo, with a view to taking over a garage business there. However, after 1 year, due to a series of unfortunate circumstances with his wifes family, he very reluctantly agreed to come back to the UK. Since being back in the UK, he has been unable to re-establish any form of business, been refused business start-up loans from the government and has had to rely on his reputation to obtain private work in order to survive. He didn't want a hand-out, just a repayable loan. It beggars belief that he, as a British citizen who has paid UK taxes all his working life, can get no help from the British government, yet any rag-head on a flight to UK can destroy his passport on the flight, claim asylum on arrival, and get accommodation, furniture, free health care, free education for his children, food, utility bills paid and spending money. They are even told that if they want a television, get one that is in a cabinet with doors on it and it will be classed as a cupboard and paid for !!! You couldn't make this stuff up.
The end result ?? In two weeks time he flies back to Perth, his wife and my two grandchildren flying out later in the year to join him.The garage business there are ecstatic at his impending return, as they appreciate the quality and efficiency of his work, and his dedication to getting it done correctly the first time. But he couldn't get even a foothold in his own country.
Start a business in UK ??? Think again.

 

Hi all new to the forum but when i was in Cagayan De Oro I was told by an ex pat who lived there that everyone loves a foreigner who spends his money but its different if you start making / taking money

 

People are people, no matter where you go.
Make friends here and you will see that there are those who will stay with you until your money runs out and there are those who will feed you when you are out of luck.
Just like in any other country.
It is up to you to decide who your real friends are.
I actually know a man who purposely spends money on his wife's family because he has control over them.
He says it makes him feel like a King and he can have his feet washed, food made and any other menial thing done on his command.
Sort of like training dogs, but, like training dogs, I think they would turn on him once he ran out of treats (money).

 

Broadside, thanks for the update on life in the UK...have to confess I haven't been there since the GFC took hold. I take your point of officialdom invading every aspect of business life there....but sad to say it is happening here too. I live only about 10k's from Wanneroo, just went thru there this morning to look at a Jeep lease vehicle at Wangara. Anyway, trust me it is just about as bad here....you name it - we have the inspectors. And once you are on their radar they will hound you forever....particularly the tax office, OHS, and licensing authorities...And political correctness has gone mad here as well. It's ok for one religion to pray in the street whenever they like, but god forbid a Christmas tree in a public place...
In fact, talking to recent English 'refugees' their issue isn't the government red tape....it's more the social issues they're escaping from - and they are happening here too...just more slowly...
Anyway good luck to your son and hope he does well here. There are a lot of hurdles and endless paperwork down here too..but also some decent tax incentives if they are properly utilized. And pretty bloody good weather here most of the time....LOL...could use some rain though...
By the way, I was under the impression the OP had a going business in the UK. Hands up...who here knows a successful foreigner-managed jeepney or internet cafe business...long-term...as in a of couple years even...anywhere in the Philippines. If you want to do it as a hobby and accept that you'll be sinking money into a lost cause(s) - than go for your life....My advice for the OP remains the same...

 

Just to show that I'm not completely opposed to businesses by foreigners in the quagmire of dead and dying dreams - maybe I missed it - but I didn't see any good tropical fish shops in Dumaguete....I mean really good, aquariums, gear, food, fish (particularly salt-water), and honest useful advice. Seems enough foreigners and perhaps a few affluent Filipinos to form a client base. Have a relative with one in Bacolod and he does barely ok (sells garden plants too)...but he's Filipino and really doesn't know much about the hobby, his wife is the moneymaker.

 

Pet Shop!

Garbonzo, Hi, There is a decent pet shop we use for all or dog needs just Past the Bandera building, I have seen fish Things there, I am not into fish so can't say if it is up to much but if you have not had a look there, maybe a visit could be worthwile.


Jack P.

 

Must have missed it maybe....I did a grid-search when we stayed at the Palwa for a few days a couple years ago to try and justify the place to a skeptical wife. I saw one place that had a few lame tanks...mostly fresh-water, and a almost as lame salt-water tank that seemed for show only. About as dismal as Bacolod...LOL and that was family. Anyway - free idea for someone who can have a go....I would lose more in veterans benefits than I'd ever get from an aquarium business in Dumaguete LOL....

 

I've found out that here in the Philippines (or anywhere for that matter), if a man picks his mate with his big head instead of his little head, he's way better off.

A mans wife is either his prostitute or his partner-in-crime. One or the other, never both.

 

Then Manz! I guess you chose with your little head, I have both and would never call Azon either of those things!


Jack P.