The icon of the Office of Ale-Conner: Themis seated on a cask, raising a tankard and the scales of justice

A City of London office since the 13th century

The Office of Ale-Conner

Testing the City’s ale since the Assize of Bread and Ale

Explore the history The City’s pub map
19% Of the 2026–27 term served
10 Engagements so far this term
182+ Pubs and bars in the City
700+ Years of heritage
The office at work

What the office does

One of the City’s oldest civic roles, the Ale-Conner was once charged with testing the ale and checking the measures. Four are still elected each year at Common Hall. The office has no powers today; it supports good and safe pubs in the Square Mile and shares seven centuries of heritage.

Safety first

The City’s Licensing Policy consultation and the Safety Thirst accreditation, in one place.

Licensing and the liveries

182+ pubs mapped

A map of the Square Mile’s pubs, printable walking trails and the Family Tree of Beer. Free to use.

Open the pub map

Just ask

The badge is an invitation. Stop the Ale-Conner and ask about the office, the Cask Race or the pubs.

About the badge
Heritage

What is an Ale-Conner?

Seven centuries of quality, fairness and good ale

In the medieval City the Ale-Conners tasted the ale, checked the measures and brought those who cheated before the court. Today the office is ceremonial, and its holders are still elected at Common Hall on Midsummer Day, with the Lord Mayor presiding (the 2026 election).

Read the full history

All those who are not Liverymen to depart the Hall, on pain of imprisonment.

The ancient cry, Common Hall, Midsummer Day
Dispatches from the office

From the journal

An occasional record of the office at work — the three most recent entries

Liam Randall presents the Best Beer from the Wood trophy, a small oak tankard bound in brass, to the winner from Tigertops Brewery in the bar of the Swan in York. The Swan, York · 26 September 2026

Beer from the Wood

Presenting the SPBW’s Best Beer from the Wood award for the Coopers’ Company — and why a society founded in 1963 to save wooden-cask beer still matters to the trade that makes the casks. Liam Randall stands beside an easel displaying an image of the Sheriff’s new chain of office and badge at Fishmongers’ Hall. Fishmongers’ Hall · 22 September 2026

A Chain for the Sheriff

The presentation of the Shrieval Chain of Office and Badge to Alderman Tim Levene at Fishmongers’ Hall — a badge by City goldsmith Grant Macdonald that sets heraldry beside the digital age. Three men raise pints in a railway-arch bar on the Bermondsey Beer Mile, before a wall of oak barrels stacked on racks and strung with fairy lights. Bermondsey · 28 August 2026

A Mile Under the Arches

The Bermondsey Beer Mile with the Innholders and the Coopers — 878 Victorian railway arches, two vanished giants of Southwark brewing, and the cheesemonger who began it all in 2009.
Read the journal
Free to use

Explore the Square Mile

The office’s field guides to the City’s pubs and its beer, open to anyone.

The pub map: pins for every pub and bar across the Square Mile, inside the dotted City boundary. The Pub Map

Every pub in the Square Mile

Over 180 pubs and bars on one map. Filter by type, see what’s open now, or show the ward boundaries. Open the map The Family Tree of Beer: Ale, Lager and Wild branching from a central Beer node, each style lit in its own colour. The Beer Tree

The Family Tree of Beer

Every beer descends from three great families: Ale, Lager and the wild ferments. Some seventy styles, each lit in its own colour. Wander the branches A narrow City street of old shopfronts and pub signs leading to the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. Walking Trails

Three trails to walk

Ink and Ale, the Coffee House Trail, and Blood, Cloth and Ale: guided routes past the City’s oldest pubs, each a printable PDF. Choose a trail
The Ale-Conner’s badge of office: a gold medallion of Themis, goddess of justice, seated on a cask, raising a tankard in her right hand and the scales of justice in her left, ringed by hop vines beneath the arms of the City of London.
The badge of office

A badge, and an invitation

The office has no enforcement powers today, so it relies on being seen and asked about. The badge is there for that: spot it about the Square Mile and you’re welcome to stop me, ask what an Ale-Conner is, or simply talk about the City’s pubs and their history.

Its design draws on the office’s original job: a figure of justice weighing the ale, set on a cask beneath the arms of the City of London.

Curious to know more, or have a question for the Ale-Conner? Get in touch — the office is here to be used.

Liam Randall outside Guildhall in the City of London, wearing his Ale-Conner badge

Outside Guildhall after Common Hall, on being returned as Ale-Conner.

The person behind it

Service, renewal, purpose

I’m Liam Randall, and I began my civic journey as an Apprentice in the Worshipful Company of Coopers in 2011. I went on to serve as the Livery’s representative on the Court as Under Warden in 2024 and Upper Warden in 2025 before returning to the Livery. I’m a strong believer in making our traditions and heritage vibrant and visible, co-founding the Coopers’ Cask Race, an annual event in Guildhall Yard celebrating the coopering craft and the modern City. I intend to apply that same energy to this ancient Office.

Returned as one of four Ale-Conners at Common Hall on Midsummer Day 2026.

Find out more at randall.london
Questions

Frequently asked

Four Ale-Conners are elected each year at Common Hall, continuing an office that dates to the thirteenth-century Assize of Bread and Ale. Historically the role carried real authority: sworn officers safeguarded the quality of ale, checked measures, and held brewers to account. Today it is ceremonial, but the office can still do useful work: sharing the history of the City’s pubs and of London’s trades in brewing, coopering and hospitality, and supporting good, safe hospitality in the Square Mile.
Yes. Ale conner, ale-taster, ale-founder, and ale-kenner are historical names for the same office – in Latin records, gustator cervisiae, the taster of beer. Wherever the Assize of Bread and Ale was enforced, manorial and borough courts appointed such officers: John Shakespeare, father of William, served as ale-taster of Stratford-upon-Avon. The City of London’s four Ale-Conners, elected each year at Common Hall, carry the tradition on today.
The Cask Group is a grouping of livery companies connected to the cask trade: the Brewers, Coopers, Distillers, Glass Sellers, Innholders, and Vintners. In recent years it has become more active, championing shared heritage through joint events and collaboration.
The Square Mile is home to over 180 pubs and bars. They serve as living links to the City’s past: once meeting places for guilds and merchants, today vital to the City’s economy, supporting jobs, attracting visitors, and providing spaces for corporate hospitality and networking.
You can reach the office at hello@aleconner.beer — messages are read and answered by Liam. For more about his work beyond the Ale-Conner role, visit randall.london.