About the Bakers' Company
The Company’s membership is drawn from those living and working in the City of London, from those working in the Baking Industry or Allied Trades and from those who wish to support charitable activities and see history and tradition maintained.
The Bakers’ Company continues to be closely involved with the baking trade and a high proportion of its members are Master Bakers or Allied Traders.
However, an equally high proportion have City, not Trade, backgrounds. Both are equally welcome as this combination of backgrounds enriches the Company.
The Company, 19th in the order of precedence, is one of the oldest City of London Liveries with a history dating back over 800 years. The first known records of the existence of the Bakers’ Guild are contained in the great ‘Pipe Rolls’ of Henry II which listed the yearly ‘farm’ paid to the Crown. It is shown that the Bakers of London (the BOLENGARII) paid a Mark of gold to the King’s Exchequer for their Guild from 1155 AD onwards.
Only the Weavers’ Guild has an entry a few years earlier in the Rolls, so the Bakers, based on these records, can claim to be the second oldest recorded guild in London. However, associations with bread and bread making go back many centuries more. For a brief history of over 2000 years of baking and the Bakers' Company, please click here.
A proportion of our extensive archives are now available online: SEE HERE
Through the Benevolent Fund and individual member’s activities the Company is heavily involved in charitable works. More details can be found in the "charitable activities" section.
The Worshipful Company of Bakers has owned the site of Bakers’ Hall since 1505 and has lost lost three previous Halls to fire, the first during the Great Fire of London which allegedly started in a bakery in the nearby Pudding Lane. The current Hall is a modern but friendly building, situated approximately 200m from the Tower of London. Its fine interior makes the Hall an ideal venue for functions and conferences, and always delights visitors. Enquiries to the Events Manager about hiring the Hall, or individual rooms, are welcome.