Election Luncheon – Wednesday 15 April

Election Luncheon

Grocers’ Hall

Wednesday 15 April 2026

The Election Luncheon will be held on Wednesday 15 April 2026 at Grocers' Hall. This immediately follows Election Court where the future Junior Warden and new Court Assistants are formally elected with the results being announced by the Master during the luncheon.

Our Prinicpal Guest is Nick Mabey OBE, who is a co-founder & director of E3G (Third Generation Environmentalism) a non-profit international organisation dedicated to accelerating the transition to sustainable development. He has served as its CEO since 2006.

Nick founded London Climate Action Week in 2019 which has grown to be one of the largest global climate change festivals. He currently chairs the LCAW Steering Group.

Nick was previously a senior advisor in the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit leading work on national and international policy areas, including: energy, climate change, countries at risk of instability, organised crime and fisheries. Nick was employed in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Environment Policy Department, and was the FCO lead for the Johannesburg Summit in 2002 where he established international partnerships on clean energy, tourism and environmental democracy.

Before he joined government Nick was Head of Economics and Development at WWF-UK. He came to WWF from research at London Business School on the economics of climate change, which he published as the book "Argument in the Greenhouse: The International Economics of Controlling Global Warming (1997)". This followed a period in the UK electricity industry working as a negotiator for PowerGen and an engineer for GEC-Alsthom. Nick trained as a mechanical engineer at Bristol University and holds a masters degree in Technology and Policy from MIT where he specialised in energy systems analysis.

Nick was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Jubilee honours list in 2022 for services to climate change and support to the UK COP26 Presidency.

The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies and ranks second in the order of precedence. The Company originated as the ‘Pepperers’, which was first officially recorded as a Guild in the Pipe Roll of 1180. In 1345, the Pepperers formed a Fraternity with St Antonin as their patron saint.

The Fraternity was entrusted with the duty of preventing the adulteration of spices and drugs, as well as with the charge of the King's Beam, which weighed the bulk merchandise in which they dealt.

This Fraternity came to be known in the 1370s as the ‘Grosseurs’ which reflected their expansion into a wide range of mercantile activity, operating primarily ‘in gross’. This was subsequently anglicised to ‘Grocers’.

In 1425, the Grocers acquired the land upon which to build their first Hall, which is where their current Hall resides today. The roof and woodwork of that Hall were destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire with a new roof being erected afterwards on the old walls.

A new Hall was built on the same site between 1798 and 1802 when part of the garden was sold to the Bank of England for the expansion of nearby Prince's Street. However, frequent and extensive repairs were required due to its defective foundations, and it was replaced by a fourth Hall, which was completed in 1893 on Prince's Street. This Hall survived the Blitz with only minor damage to its north wing, but was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1965, apparently caused by a lightbulb left on in the grand staircase beneath an oak lintel which smouldered and eventually ignited. The current Hall was constructed nearby in 1970, also on Prince's Street, and remains the Grocers' home today.

The magnigicent Grocers’ Gates which you will pass through when entering the Livery Hall for Election Luncheon

TIMINGS

• 1215        Reception
• 1245        Election Luncheon
• 1445        Carriages

BOOK NOW
Tickets cost £135 and you can book places for yourself and your guests on the Company website.
You are advised to book early and please note that Pour Memoires are no longer sent out.

Liverymen are able to claim Tallage, which is now £50 for one formal event per livery year [voucher TG1].
Any Freemen interested in becoming a Liveryman should contact the Clerk.

DRESS CODE
Lounge suits, Livery Badges.

BOOKING DEADLINE
Please book your places by Friday 3 April.

LOCATION
Grocers’ Hall, Princes Street, London EC2R 8AD
View location

CEREMONIAL COURT
There will be a Ceremonial Court immediately before the Reception to formally admit new Freemen and enrobe new Liverymen.
Ceremonial Court follows Election Court and will start promptly at 1145.  All members and their guests wishing to support our new Freemen and Liverymen are welcome to attend.
If you are expecting to be admited as a Freeman or enrobed as a Liveryman please contact the Clerk to ensure that you are included.