Everything costs more these days. The supermarket shop is more expensive, filling the car costs more and even the things we buy or use every day are taking a bigger chunk out of our income. For people already trying to make their money cover the basics, those increases leave less and less room for anything else.

 And while steep price rises have become normal across Spain, one small village bar is taking a very different approach, deliberately keeping its prices down to make life a little easier for the people who come through its doors.

Everyday essentials are getting harder to afford

The squeeze is being felt in the places people cannot simply stop spending money. Food has to be bought, cars still need fuel and household bills have to be paid before there is any money left for going out. Spain’s annual inflation rate reached 3.6 per cent in July this year, up from 3.2 per cent in June, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

For people whose incomes have not kept pace with the cost of living, those increases can mean having to cut back on things that once seemed relatively inexpensive. A coffee, a beer or an occasional meal out might not be essential, but when the price of necessities keeps rising, these are often among the first expenses to be reconsidered.

The cost of everyday life keeps climbing

The pressure is particularly difficult for people on lower incomes, who have less room to absorb increases in food, fuel, household bills and other regular expenses. INE figures show that workers in accommodation and food services had average annual earnings of €17,653.42 in 2024, the lowest among the main economic activities measured. Unskilled service workers had average annual earnings of €16,062.57.

It means that the same price increase can have very different consequences depending on how much someone earns each month. For a household already using most of its income to cover essentials, there may be little left to absorb another increase at the supermarket, another trip to the petrol station or a higher bill when eating or drinking out. And that is where one small business in Valladolid is trying to do things differently.

A coffee for €1.5

It sounds like something from the past but  Rincón de Rubo is a family-run bar in Villanueva de Duero, where owner Rubén Carpintero Rico has chosen to keep his prices deliberately low, a coffee costs €1.50, while a caña costs €1.60. Rubén, 31, says the prices are kept adjusted so that customers can continue to enjoy the bar without the cost becoming a luxury.

The business opened four years ago and has four employees. It serves coffee and tapas alongside hamburgers, paellas and other food. For a village of around 1,260 people, the bar also provides a local place to meet, eat and have a drink without having to travel elsewhere. The prices stand out at a time when customers across Spain are encountering higher costs in businesses of all kinds.

The bar has rising costs too

Rubén is not operating in a world where everything has stayed the same price. He has worked in hospitality since 2013 and has more than 13 years of experience in the sector. Running the bar means dealing with suppliers, employees, rent, utilities, taxes, accounts and the other costs involved in keeping the business operating.

He says the business can provide a living, but running a bar requires long hours and involvement in practically every part of the operation. That makes keeping prices down a conscious decision. Rather than automatically passing every increase in his own costs on to customers, Rubén is trying to maintain prices that people in the village can manage.

Keeping a simple pleasure affordable

For someone struggling to make their income cover the basics, being able to stop for a coffee without spending several euros can matter. The same applies to meeting friends for a drink. These may not be necessities, but they are part of everyday life and are often among the things people give up when money becomes tight. Rubén’s approach does not change the rising cost of food, fuel or household bills, and it does not remove the financial pressures facing the business itself.

What it does offer is a small pocket of affordability in a market where customers are increasingly being asked to pay more. At El Rincón de Rubo, the price remains €1.50 for a coffee and €1.60 for a caña. For customers already watching what they spend, that means one less everyday expense that has to keep climbing.

Being left to your own devices in a clothes shop might sound like a dream for many women, but for one customer in Malaga it became a very different kind of shopping experience when she discovered she was locked inside after closing time. The woman had been trying on swimsuits in a clothes shop in central Malaga on Thursday evening when the manager closed the premises and went home, apparently unaware that a customer was still inside.

It was shortly after 09:00pm when the woman came out of the changing room and realised something was wrong. The shop was dark, the shutters were down and there was no one else around. What had started as an ordinary shopping trip had suddenly left her stuck inside a locked shop with no way of getting out.

She was still in the shop when it closed

According to the shop manager, the woman had entered at around 8.30pm. The worker was talking to a friend when the usual closing time arrived. Assuming that all customers had left, she pulled down the shutters and left the premises without realising that the woman was still inside, The customer only discovered what had happened after finishing in the changing room.

With the shop locked and deserted, she called her partner for help. He went to the premises and contacted the police, who arrived to deal with the unusual situation. The incident quickly became less about a shopping trip and more about working out how to get the customer safely back outside.

Police track down the shop owner

Officers located the shop owner’s address and went to her home to explain what had happened. They asked her to return to the shop and unlock the premises so that the trapped customer could finally leave. The woman had been inside for around 45 minutes by the time she was freed.

Being unexpectedly locked inside a dark shop after closing is unlikely to have been part of her plans for the evening. The customer eventually walked out of the establishment, bringing an unusually memorable end to what had begun as an attempt to find a swimsuit.

For the woman, the most important part was undoubtedly getting back out, for the shop manager, the experience will probably make checking the changing rooms rather more memorable at closing time. And for anyone who has ever thought that having an entire clothes shop to themselves after hours would be the perfect shopping experience, this Malaga customer may have a very different view.

One very lucky EuroMillions player has become €111,000,000 richer after matching all five numbers and both Lucky Stars in Friday’s September 11 draw.

The winning ticket was sold in Austria, making one lucky player there the sole top-prize winner of the massive jackpot who doesn’t have to share it with anyone, not even the Spanish tax office (unlike winners in Spain). The winning numbers were 1, 7, 15, 39 and 50, with Lucky Stars 1 and 11.

Friday’s jackpot had rolled over to a whopping €111 million after several draws without a top-prize winner. With the full jackpot now claimed, the prize fund will reset for the next EuroMillions draw.

Spain produces a few EuroMillions winners

Spanish players missed out on the top prize but still had plenty of reason to check their tickets following Friday’s draw. However, one Spanish ticket matched five of the main numbers and one Lucky Star, earning €265,189.68 in the second category. That ticket was confirmed at lottery office number 75,625 in La Pineda-Vila-Seca, Tarragona.

Another Spanish player matched all five main numbers but neither of the Lucky Stars. Their ticket was worth €30,989.60 and was confirmed as coming from lottery shop number 289 in Madrid.

Spain also has a new millionaire thanks to El Millón, the separate €1 million prize attached to Spanish EuroMillions tickets. That winning code was said to come from lottery shop 99,680 in Leganes, Madrid.

Next EuroMillions jackpot set at €17 million

Next Tuesday’s EuroMillions draw will carry a guaranteed first-category jackpot of €17 million following the Austrian player’s huge win.

EuroMillions is played twice each week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, with millions of tickets bought across participating European countries. Spanish players also have El Millón included with their EuroMillions entries, creating another chance to land a major prize.

Anyone holding a ticket from Friday’s draw can check the numbers and prize information through Spain’s official Loterias y Apuestas del Estado results service.