diff --git a/qcodes/plots/base.py b/qcodes/plots/base.py
index 528b5baac88f..12a7e8b9e3e7 100644
--- a/qcodes/plots/base.py
+++ b/qcodes/plots/base.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 from IPython.display import display
 
 from qcodes import config
-from qcodes.widgets.widgets import HiddenUpdateWidget
-
 
 class BasePlot:
 
@@ -30,6 +28,7 @@ def __init__(self, interval=1, data_keys='xyz'):
         # and there is multiprocessing
         self.interval = interval
         if config['gui']['notebook'] and config['core']['legacy_mp']:
+            from qcodes.widgets.widgets import HiddenUpdateWidget
             self.update_widget = HiddenUpdateWidget(self.update, interval)
             display(self.update_widget)