Worshipful Company of Vintners

[2][3] This granted far-reaching powers including duties of search throughout English dominions and the right to buy herrings and cloth to sell to the Gascons.

Its privileges removed under the Stuarts were restored by William and Mary, but the Company could not recover its former trading dominance in Europe.

Until 2006, the Vintners' Company retained autonomous alcohol sale licensing rights in certain areas of England, such as the City of London and along the route of the old Great North Road.

[8] The Vintners elect a new Master annually in July, celebrated by a publication service at the Guild Church of St James Garlickhythe, opposite the livery hall.

The procession starts at Vintners' Hall with the Master and Wardens in Tudor dress carrying nosegays, their path being swept by a Wine Porter using a birch broom.