British Ambassador to Spain visits Benidorm

Giles Paxman, Paul Rodwell & Agustin Navarro

Yesterday, Giles Paxman, the British Ambassador to Spain visited Benidorm to hold a working meeting with the Mayor, Agustin Navarro. He was accompanied by the British Consul, Paul Rodwell who's last high profile visit to the town was to jointly present an award to Derren Litten, writter and creator of the hugely popular ITV series "Benidorm" with the Mayor back in September.

There were representatives of all main tourist related sectors including Alberto Martinez - deputy representative of the Government; Juan Carlos Hernandez - Chief of the National Police; Juan Fuertes - Head of the Local Police; Antonio Mayor - President of Hosbec, the hoteliers Association; Yolanda Pickett - Head of the Tourist Board; Anne Mountney of Thomas Cook; Garreth Williams of TUI UK & Ireland and Oliver Allen of Jet 2 Holidays.com.

The Ambassador understands the importance of keeping a close working relationship with the town, particularly as it is the most popular Spanish destination for British tourists and so has taken a personal interest to meet representatives that deal first hand with the tourist sector. With the numbers of visitors Benidorm receives each year and also the growing ex-pat community, he spoke in depth with Paul Rodwell about how the consulate in Alicante can assist those British nationals when in trouble. He is aware that the Consulate in Alicante is the busiest in the entire country.

The delegation then went to lunch at one of Benidorm's popular British restaurants - Paneils, located in the Old Town, which was a nice touch of support of a British establishment. They could easily have gone to one of the numerous tapas bars or Spanish restaurants, but made a conscious decision to choose a British establishment. There they enjoyed a typical roast dinner followed by apple crumble which was enjoyed by everyone I am told.

Maybe now he has had his first taste of Benidorm he will come back again... I wonder if he is a fan of the Benidorm series - maybe he will be now! Later in the evening the delegation headed off to Alicante where the Ambassador held a talk at the IFA, directed at the federation of provincial businesses to reiterate the importance of investment and maintaining a good working relationship. I wonder whether he handed around the Ferrero Rocher afterwards... for those too young, there use to be a television commercial depicting a similar scenario!