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one foot on the rock

Hugo James looks at a new breed of expat living in the province and working in Gibraltar, and talks to three people who are enjoying the best of both worlds

Not everyone can claim to see vultures riding the thermals on their daily commute to work, but for James Bennett it’s a regular feature of his journey between Medina Sidonia and Gibraltar. He’s one of a growing number of Britons who choose to live in Cádiz province and cross the border every day to work on ‘the Rock’.

More and more people of working age are relocating here from Britain, and as a rule they need to find employment to be able to sustain their dream Spanish lifestyle. But jobs are hard to come by in Cádiz if you are not Spanish – and almost impossible if you don’t speak the language fluently. People do take positions in hotels, cafes or estate agencies. However, even though it might be a struggle to find a job like this in the first place, it’s not well-paid work.

So Gibraltar has proved an ideal solution for many expats – thanks, of course, to its proximity and the fact that English is the lingua franca. Another advantage is the UK level salaries, paid in sterling, as opposed to far lower salaries paid in euros for an equivalent position in Spain.

The established industries such as banking and insurance still thrive in Gibraltar, but its newest industry, online gaming, has dramatically changed the employment and economic landscape. Many of the companies involved in the industry – PartyGaming, 888.com, Ladbrokes and Victor Chandler, for example – are based on the Rock. And though plenty of their employees have luxury apartments in Gibraltar’s new waterside developments or have set up home across the border in La Linea, increasingly people are commuting from towns scattered through the southern half of Cádiz.

James Bennett has been working for an online gaming company since August 2006 and every day drives for almost an hour each way from his finca near Medina Sidonia. “I love my life in the middle of the Spanish countryside but there are limited employment options where I live. Working in Gibraltar means I can have a successful and well paid job and still have the traditional Spanish lifestyle that attracted me to this corner of Spain in the first place,” he says.

He had wanted to live in this area since visiting five years ago. Unusually, James looked at finding work before his move to Spain and obtained his current position before he found his dream house. “I rented in Los Barrios while I looked for a suitable property to buy. I wanted to be within a short driving distance of Gibraltar but found nothing suitable so had to look further inland and I’m glad I did. “The drive in the mornings is especially beautiful because the sun is coming up over the mountains as you drive through the Alcornocales national park and you often see groups of vultures and eagles circling just above the trees as they climb on the thermals”.

The arrival of a new employment sector in Gibraltar has led to a number of recruitment agencies springing up to service them. The gaming companies requiring staff across all disciplines including marketing, accounting and human resources as well as technical staff – enough positions to keep recruitment consultants like Debbie Kinlay busy. “I meet and place a mixture of people into a variety of roles. Some relocate to the area because they start a job in Gibraltar while others have lived in Cádiz for years and decide they want to or need to find gainful employment,” says Debbie, who makes a daily journey to Gibraltar from her beachside cottage in Bolonia. “I have recruited people from the USA, Australia and all over Europe. The Australians all seem to want to live in Tarifa for the world class wind surfing and kite surfing available there. And I am seeing more English people living in various rural towns and villages where they want to live traditional Spanish lifestyles.”

The office buildings and sandwich bars of Gibraltar offer people a slice of a lifestyle they may have left behind in the UK, and the sense of familiarity is a real source of comfort. But it can’t compare with the beauty of Cádiz – at least, not for Debbie and her Spanish husband, Javier, who moved back to Spain after some years in the UK.

They chose Cádiz province because they wanted to see the beautiful coastline of the Costa de la Luz when they opened their front door and also have Gibraltar on the doorstep: it’s the perfect work-life balance they were looking for. “Bolonia offers such a contrast to Gibraltar that it makes us really appreciate our quiet life by the beach away from the coach loads of tourists that pour over the Gibraltar border everyday,” Debbie says.

The beach lifestyle was also a major attraction for Sarah Craddy who relocated from England to Tarifa for one reason. Sarah is a top kite surfer and lives for her sport. She has travelled the world to places like Fiji, Thailand and Venezuela to enjoy the best kite surfing. “I don’t think I would be able to live here if I didn’t have Gibraltar a short drive away,” Sarah says. She knew having a good CV meant she could easily find work in Gibraltar and secured a position with Barclays International. And though she enjoys her job Sarah sees it as a means to an end. “I spend 90 per cent of my spare time kite surfing. I moved to the Tarifa area because there are lots of other kite surfers living here and some of the best conditions in the world for our sport.”

Sarah is typical of a new type of expat, moving here to work and enjoy the quality of life available in the province. And working in Gibraltar, with its salary levels and familiar infrastructure, it seems you can have the best of both worlds.