Elected Ale Conner: Common Hall, 24 June 2026

Today, at Common Hall, I was elected one of four Ale Conners for the City of London. It is a considerable honour, and one I did not take on lightly.

The four Ale Conners of the City of London standing together in front of a stone wall after the election at Common Hall; Liam Randall stands on the right in morning dress, wearing the badge of office. — The four Ale Conners for the year ahead, photographed after the election — two returning incumbents, two newly elected.

The Worshipful Company of Coopers has, since the pandemic, pursued a rolling development plan to shape its ambitions as a livery company. That plan has evolved to include deepening our liverymen’s engagement with the City of London, and, building on that commitment, an ambition to see one of our own elected Ale Conner, given the natural links between the office and our craft. Coopers made the casks; Ale Conners tested what went into them. Few roles sit closer to our own history.

I was nominated by Alan Roberts, Liveryman and Court Assistant of the Coopers’ Company, and Sean Molony, Liveryman and Court Assistant of the Innholders’ Company. I am grateful to them both, and to everyone who supported this candidacy, particularly the Cask Group of Livery Companies, whose encouragement throughout has meant a great deal.

Liam Randall, centre, wearing the Ale-Conner’s badge of office, shakes hands with a fellow liveryman at the entrance to Guildhall after the election at Common Hall. — Outside Guildhall after the election at Common Hall, Midsummer Day 2026.

My first act as Ale Conner was to adopt a badge of office. It is a small thing, but a deliberate one. The role has no formal enforcement power today, and its relevance rests almost entirely on visibility and conversation. Wearing the badge is an open invitation to talk, to explain what the office does now, and to hear what people think it should do next. On the day itself, that proved out exactly as intended: badge on, and the conversations started without my needing to prompt them.

The Ale-Conner’s badge of office: a gold medallion of Themis seated on a cask, raising a tankard and the scales of justice, ringed by hop vines beneath the arms of the City of London. — The badge of office, adopted on election day.

That, more than anything, is what I want this role to be about. The office of Ale Conner has a long history, but history alone does not keep an institution relevant. What keeps it relevant is whether it still does something useful for the City today, and whether people outside the City understand what that something is. I intend to spend my time in office finding out.