Colin Reese QC has been installed as the new Master of the Worshipful Company of Bakers.

He takes over the position from Paul Heygate, joint managing director of farming, flour and feed milling and bakery group Heygates.

Reese QC is not a baker by profession but a lawyer, starting his career at the English Bar in 1975 and taking the silk in 1987. He was a legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal from 2000-2015.

He was installed at the Company’s recent Election Banquet at Mansion House in the City of London and his year in office will include commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London and the 800th anniversary of the Assize of Bread and Ale, a law which proscribed the price and weight of loaves until the early 19th Century.

The Worshipful Company of Bakers is one of London’s oldest livery companies, able to trace its existence back to at least 1155 and therefore predating the first Lord Mayor, who took office in 1189.

It is ranked 19th in the hierarchy of City of London livery companies and maintains strong links with the baking industry. These include supporting the education of bakery students as part of its charitable activities.