The Square Mile has always run on belonging — to a ward, to a livery company, to the regulars’ end of a good pub. On Friday morning the City set about giving that old instinct a new workforce.
The occasion was the launch of the City Belonging Champions programme, hosted bright and early at Deutsche Bank’s Moorfields headquarters: two hours of City leaders, name badges and good strong coffee, with a full auditorium drawn from organisations across the Square Mile, all there to work out how their workplaces might plug more fully into the opportunities, networks and civic life of the City.
The City Belonging Project, run by the Corporation since 2023, aims to bring people who work in the Square Mile into its civic and cultural life. The Champions programme adds a nominated ambassador in each workplace, to share what the City has on offer, open doors between organisations, and connect colleagues to Corporation programmes from Young Talent to Climate Action.
The idea sits naturally with this office: the City’s pubs have been the Square Mile’s belonging networks for seven centuries — the original cross-sector meeting places, open to all comers, no nomination form required. An office invented to guarantee the quality of the City’s welcome sits very comfortably alongside a programme built to widen it.
I should, in the interests of transparency, address the mug. An engagement that begins at half past eight in the morning is no place for ale, even for an Ale-Conner, so the tasting duties of the day fell upon Deutsche Bank’s coffee — which I am pleased to report was bright, well-kept and thoroughly delicious. Regular readers will recognise the verdict; I can only assure you it is applied with equal rigour whatever the vessel.
My thanks to Mark Gettleson, Director of Campaigns and Engagement, and his team for organising the morning.
If your workplace would like to take part, nominations are open at belongingproject.city/champions, along with the full role description. It is a small commitment with a long reach: a colleague who knows the way into the City’s civic and cultural life, and can hold the door open for everyone else.
And should your newly connected colleagues want somewhere to belong after hours, the pub map stands ready with some 180 suggestions.