Renovating and Opening a Restaurant & Bar in France!

La montagne noire restaurant and bar france

Hi Lovelies,

Sorry I haven’t been very active on the blog recently, I have been up to my eyes working! Well I guess if you really love what you do then it doesn’t really feel like work at all. That is true in my case since renovating and opening a restaurant and bar in France! If you happen to follow my blog, you will know that we have been working hard to get our restaurant and bar ready for the summer.

So a quick recap and the low-down on our big project – welcome any new readers! We bought a restaurant and bar in sunny south of France around six months ago. My partner and I had been on the lookout for a potential business opportunity but we had no idea we were about to stumble across the opportunity of a lifetime. We already have a restaurant in France up and running for around 5 years now but it is a 50/50 partnership and that restaurant is taking off now. It took a few years to get it up to scratch but is now running well and a success.

I have been a stay at home mum for almost 5 years now, just doing the odd days work here and there. It was a huge step for me to go back to work full time and also struggling with the language barrier. As the saying goes –

“Real change is difficult at the beginning, but gorgeous at the end. Change begins the moment you get the courage and step outside your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
Roy T. Bennett

I truly believe that you need to face your fears in order to reach your best potential. I have wanted to speak French fluently for so long, so this is the perfect opportunity. Anyhoo, we sold our house very quickly, it was only on the market 3 days and we didn’t even go through an agent! It was a little sad leaving, since it held a lot of sentimentality. We renovated it from scratch and fell in love with the place. However, the time had come to close the door to our old life and open the door to our new one. The bold step into the unknown was an apprehensive but positively confident one. We had even discussed the possibility of keeping it and renting it out but in the end, we had to make a quick decision.

We have already bought another house so we were under pressure to get the money together for that or face getting a bank loan. We knew it was for the best financially so we waved goodbye to our beautiful old home and passed it on to another young family who adored it at first sight. That was a nice feeling and we will soon be neighbours and hopefully friends. Our children so happen to be the exact same ages and go to the same maternelle (montessori) and crèche so we already knew them. This made things a little easier and comforting. In fact our eldest daughter Tara (4) is now best friends with their son which is absolutely adorable.

At the time we happened to stumble across our new restaurant and bar we had no intention of buying a property. After all, we had just put a deposit down on our dream home. It is a 15th century building with stunning views of the Pyrenee’s. It was love at first sight and we soon realised it was the bargain of a lifetime – not to be missed! Here is a pic of the view from the 1st floor –

Considering there is a huge garden and our old house didn’t have one, we were smitten. The old wooden floors and high ceilings with ornate fireplaces and old world charm had us sold. The price was only 80,000 euro which was simply unbelievable. We put our deposit down quick sharp. The old lady had approached my partner and his Dad a week or so earlier when his Dad was viewing the house next door. His Dad went ahead and bought the adjoining building for a steal at only 68,000 euro. It is an ancient mansion and had originally been on sale for 250,000 for both buildings. Needless to say we bagged a complete bargain at nearly half the price only two years later.

The old lady was happy to sell to another family as she had lived in the house since a child herself, in her late 70’s now and had an emotional attachment to it. She was now living an hour away and only came for the odd visit in summer. The family wanted to sell so they were happy to sell both buildings together to one family and split the money. She said she would like to spend one last summer there so we gladly obliged. We hadn’t even sold our own home at that stage so it all worked out well.

Since then Pierre, my partner’s Dad has moved in next door and is renovating. We have a good bit of renovation to do but luckily, the house is still in great shape and has many beautiful old features remaining so we cannot wait to get in! That will change hands in September but we are hoping to be in by Christmas once renovation goes to plan. It is just a few minutes walk from the restaurant and less than a minutes drive.

Getting back to the restaurant and bar. We were at the time looking for a business opportunity such as a lease for a restaurant and had been keeping an eye out in the area. The one we already own is in the next village, Montolieu, near Carcassonne, South of France. It is called Cassette et Chapeau (Cap and Hat) so we began looking nearby. We absolutely love the medieval village of Saissac as it is steeped in history with its famous castle ruins, cobbled streets and old village. The views are breathtaking as it is up overlooking the Pyrenee’s in La Montagne Noire (The Black Mountains).

Tristan and his Dad decided to inquire locally at the La Montagne Noire restaurant which is on the main roadside therefore great for business. It is an historic building and an iconic hotel restaurant. We arranged a visit and were surprised to hear it was actually for sale. There was no indication of it being for sale online or elsewhere. There was just a tiny sign on a garage door that we thought belonged to another building. It so happened that the garage was part of the main building and it had been for sale for a couple of years already. They told us a few people were interested and we were keen to learn more.

We came to view the building and meet the owners. We had been to the restaurant a few times and it was in need of a good renovation. It was very dated and a little dingy. The lady who ran the place owned the lease to the restaurant and bar and was currently running it single-handedly! Her husband an her ran it for 30 years or more and were around the same age as us when they took on the lease. They had broken up a few years previously and she was only opening midweek for the workers lunch time the last while.

When we got the grand tour we were in absolute awe of the place. It is actually an old hotel and is huge! We were gobsmacked at the price as it was selling for only 70,000 euro for the building and there is 11 en-suite bedrooms and a living area separate to the hotel. This included the restaurant and bar with garage and huge kitchen. The lease for the bar including a late licence til 3AM was going for 50,000. All up for a massive hotel, restaurant and bar we would only pay 120,000 euro plus solicitor fees. This is what some people would expect for a long lease, never mind a building with a hotel. We didn’t take long to decide and began making the arrangements immediately as we knew others were interested.

Thankfully, we were able to secure the sale quickly and how exciting the prospect was! Suddenly we were hotel-owners! This was a bizarre concept and took a while to get used to. I sometimes pinch myself as I cannot believe our luck in finding this gem. Since then, we have spent 3 months renovating and are finally open for business! We still have some work to do and the hotel won’t be open until newt summer but the restaurant is taking off well. We had very little money for the renovations but we did the best we could!

Here are some photos of the before, during and after –

before renovation pic of facade
Here is a before renovation pic of the facade
After renovation of facade of the resto
After renovation of facade of the resto
A before pic of the bar
A before pic of the bar
bar renovation
After pic of bar renovation
The old vine had to be removed to make way for new growth
The old vine had to be removed to make way for new growth
removal of vines
We had to remove the old dead vines in order to help the remaining ones grow
Before pic of the bar
Before pic of the bar
Here is a during renovation pic of the bar
Here is a during renovation pic of the bar
Here is the bar
Here is the bar
A room we renovated
A room we renovated before pic
One of the rooms we renovated with original floors
One of the rooms we renovated with original floors
A pic of Saissac medieval castle ruins
A pic of Saissac medieval castle ruins

We will see how the summer goes before investing more money but we have great plans ahead. Do stay tuned for updates. I have been meaning to update you on the progress but been mad busy with everything. The great news is, I am getting to know all the locals who are a wonderful bunch of people. Practicing French every day is making me more confident and finally I am becoming better at conversation! I am so happy to immerse myself completely into French culture and language. It is really starting to feel like home here.

Becoming a part of such a lovely community is really comforting and freeing. I wave to everyone in the street now and most people around the village know me. We even had a write up in L’Independent – the newspaper of Carcassonne, which was pretty cool!

All I can say is I am truly thankful and grateful for all my blessings and I hope you too can live your dreams. If you can dream it, you can do it!

If you want you can follow us on Instagram @bar_lamontagnenoire

Facebook La Montagne Noire Bar & Restaurant

Our new website is on the way so I will update on that!

Back soon with some natural beauty faves. Thanks so much for reading and following me on my journey. My blog has helped me so much on the way. I love my online community of supporters. You are awesome!

Chat soon,

Ciara x

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5 Comments

  1. This looks like an amazing opportunity! The building looks like it has amazing potential, je trouve c’est magnifique! I wish you all the luck with this venture!