The Hungarian bar that Iniesta’s family loves
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The reporter of index visited the Hungarian football bar in Spain that the family of Andrés Iniesta loves very much. Now, while Hungarian football might not enjoy its heydays, this establishment is flourishing. Erika Beke and Péter Büki, the owners, arrived in Spain as foreigners, but now they have a friendly relationship with the FC Barcelona and star athletes as their guests – like Peter Shilton. Whoever visits them, learns to say “Haladás” (the football team of a Hungarian city, Szombathely). Despite the difficulties, they built up a successful business near the Camp Nou stadium.
“Welcome, my dear, just take a seat, I’ll fetch your pálinka” goes the greeting of Erika Beke: every Hungarian that sets foot in their bar receives a cool glass immediately.
“We don’t serve customer here. We receive guests.”
Even complete strangers leave the place as friends” explains Erika.
Beginnings
Péter Büki tells their story: they met in 2009 and on the 1st of April 2010 (not meant to be an April’s Fool prank) they already moved in together. “I’m from Szombathely, I’ve been obsessed with football since I was four and I’ve played for the Haladás. So when I was moving, I realised that I have countless football relics… A year later our first son was born, and after another 14 months, the second. By that time we knew that we want to start a place abroad based on my relics, where fans can feel at home.”
Péter’s other favourites teams include Liverpool and the national team of Britain, and following them he travelled a lot, understanding the needs of the fans. However, the UK weather was not tempting enough, so they ended up in Barcelona.
„Only” had to pay 12 years’ rent
Choosing the country was the easiest part, the troubles came afterwards, but those could not stop the determined couple. First up, there was the location: it took one year to find the perfect place and then they learned that in the 50s a restriction was made regarding the number of restaurants around the stadium. “This meant that we had to pay 12 years’ worth of rent” Erika recalls. “We had barely enough, but we were optimistic, so made the deal.”
This was when the second problem surfaced: the pipes and wires were so old that they did not get a licence to open, they had to have them all replaced for a fortune, which led to the third strike: the first specialist, who took the job, left with their money without doing anything.
“We were standing there with our two children and my bigger one from a previous relationship, and did not even have enough money to buy tickets home.”
Yet, they did still not give up.
Supernatural go-ahead
An other-worldly sign contributed to their perseverance. Péter’s mother passed away when they left Hungary, and she used to have a strange collection of porcelain handed and headed, textile witches. “We buried her with 117 of those witches” Erika elaborates. “When we had spent all our money, one day I started tidying the storeroom and found a witch exactly like the ones she collected.”
Péter shows that it is still on the wall. “I don’t really believe in such things, but this coincidence was so uncanny that we interpreted it as a message from my late mother: she is watching over us and we must keep going.”
With family help, they managed to solve the financial issues and did not give up their dream. However, after opening they had to realise that neither the Hungarian football nor the Hungarian cuisine was enough to draw people in. “We managed to open, and no one came. Not the first day, not the next, not after a month.
