Worshipful Company of Coopers · City of London
Liam Randall
Ale Conner of the City of London · Cooper · Technologist
Britain's great traditions are not relics. They are living inheritances — to be renewed, put to work, and handed on stronger than we found them.
Introduction
Service, by quiet habit
I have spent fifteen years in the civic life of the City of London, and the instinct to serve started earlier still. From the cadet forces in Surrey to the Court of the Coopers' Company, the thread has been the same: identify what needs doing, build the case, and deliver it.
Until June 2026 I served as Upper Warden of the Worshipful Company of Coopers — the youngest in the Company's five-century history. I remain a Liveryman, and was elected Ale Conner of the City of London at Common Hall on 24 June 2026. By profession I am Head of Impact and Data at Toynbee Hall, one of the country's oldest social action charities.
The Square Mile
A career in service to the institutions of the City
The City of London is the oldest continuously self-governing community in Britain. Its livery companies, ward clubs and ancient offices are the framework I have spent my adult life inside — learning their workings, modernising what no longer serves, and standing for office where I can be useful.
Explore the workWhat I Believe
Custodians, not curators
Like anyone who cares about these institutions, I believe we are custodians — responsible not just for ensuring they survive, but that they genuinely thrive: relevant, purposeful, and open.
Some dismiss livery companies and the City's traditions as relics. They have endured for a reason: every generation has found them new purpose — in charity, in education, in fellowship, in trade. Our task is to do the same. Not to embalm what we have inherited, but to keep it useful, open, and alive.
That conviction is why I stood for Ale Conner: one of the country's oldest civic offices, and one with real work to do. I write about the office — its seven centuries of history and the Square Mile's pubs — at The Office of Ale-Conner.
Civic Service
Where I serve
The Coopers' Company
Two years as Warden of the Coopers' Company (2024–26), concluding as Upper Warden. Working with the Court and the Society, modernised the Company's systems, introduced a Code of Conduct, and built an induction programme.
Read more → Inter-LiveryThe Cask Race
Co-founder and chair of the Coopers' Cask Race in Guildhall Yard — the inter-livery competition that has grown into a fixture of the City year. The 2026 race is fully booked.
Read more → The Drinks TradeThe Cask Group
Convened six livery companies — Brewers, Coopers, Distillers, Glass Sellers, Innholders and Vintners — to give the drinks trade a shared civic voice, with a joint Lord Mayor's Show float to come.
Read more → Elected · 24 June 2026Ale Conner
Elected at Common Hall on 24 June 2026 to one of the country's most ancient offices — a platform to champion the pubs, breweries and venues that keep the Square Mile thriving.
Read more →"We are custodians, not owners. Our job is to hand these institutions on stronger, more open, and more useful than we found them."
Selected Milestones
A record of service
-
2010
Lord Lieutenant's Cadet, Surrey
Cadet of the Year for Surrey; subsequently Regimental Sergeant Major and Cadet Under Officer.
-
2011
Apprenticed to the Master Cooper
Bound as Apprentice to the Worshipful Company of Coopers at the age of 17.
-
2019
Freedom of the City & Clothing in the Livery
Received the Freedom of the City of London and admitted to the Livery of the Coopers' Company.
-
2022
Co-founded the Coopers' Cask Race
An annual inter-livery event in Guildhall Yard connecting the coopering craft to the modern City.
-
2024
Grant of Arms
Granted armorial bearings by the College of Arms following a 26-month process.
-
2025–26
Upper Warden of the Coopers
Modernised the Society's systems, introduced a Code of Conduct and an induction programme for new members, and reformed the process for appointing Court members.
-
2026
Elected Ale Conner of the City of London
Elected by the Liverymen at Common Hall on 24 June 2026 to one of the country's most ancient civic offices.
