Charles Fryatt, captain of a merchant ship, rammed a German U-boat in 1915. He received a golden watch for this act of war. For this he was captured in 1916 and executed in Bruges. Proof? The inscription on his golden watch. Brexit or not, the English were always welcome in Bruges. As a political refugee: Gunhilde, sister of King Harold, to William of Normandy, Edward IV during the Rose War, Charles II to Cromwell, English Catholics to Henry VIII. As representatives of the seven arts with Thomas More, Frank Brangwyn or James Wheale. The British discover Bruges as a cheap second home after the Battle of Waterloo. And Bruges would not be today's Bruges without the British Gothic revival.