The unofficial British Embassy for the duration of Baselworld has been taken over by new management, and WatchPro has been unable to confirm that it will be open during the exhibition.
Baselworld was already reeling from a drop in exhibitors from over 1500 five years ago to around 600 this year, but travelling executives from the British watch industry will be even more concerned if ‘The Pickwick’, which has actually been named The Fish Inn for several years, is not available as a post-exhibition watering hole.
The British-style boozer has been an institution for as long as WatchPro can remember; a place where the biggest names in watch retail unwind and continue business discussions with all-powerful watch brand executives.
Checking-in today, WatchPro found the website, www.thefishinn.ch under renovation.
A phone number that comes up when we Googled The Fish Inn, says it is not in service when we called.
The most recent review on Tripadvisor is from October 2017. “We had Fish n chips, regular and vegetarian, both were very good. Local brew on tap was yummy and cold,” Charlene D, a Level 2 Tripadvisor Contributor, wrote reassuringly.
We managed to contact the eccentric previous manager, Chris, who said he had retired due to ill health. He could not provide details of the new management’s plans.
This is not the first time that the status of Britons’ favourite Baselworld boozer has been uncertain ahead of the show. A change of ownership in 2016 brought similar fears, with WatchPro stepping in to make alternative arrangements for its readers before discovering that the pub was open after all.
Investigations continue.
