The Worshipful Company of Butchers (WCB) will host its annual City Meat Lecture on Wednesday 26th November 2025 at Butchers’ Hall, London, with Professor Chris Elliott delivering the keynote speech.
The City Meat Lecture is open to everyone in the meat industry and provides an opportunity for networking and discussion. The topic for this year’s lecture is titled ‘Is there a role for livestock and meat in a modern society?’ and will explore whether meat consumption still has an important function to play in modern Britain in terms of the health and economy of the nation, as well as its environmental credentials.
Professor Chris Elliott to give keynote lecture
The lecture will be delivered by Professor Chris Elliott OBE, a leading expert on international food supply chains, founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast and professor of food security at Thammasat University in Thailand. He also acts as a senior scientific advisor on food safety and authenticity to a number of UN agencies and led the independent review of Britan’s food system in response to the horsemeat scandal in 2013.
Professor Elliott is a recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of Biology. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2020, and in 2024, he became the honorary president of the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology.
Panellist debate
Following the lecture, a group of panellists, including Baroness Minette Batters, will discuss the issues raised as part of a Q&A session, facilitated by the lecture’s chair, assistant Stuart Roberts.
Baroness Batters served as president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) from 2014 to 2018 and was appointed earlier this year by Defra to lead a review of farm profitability. She runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire, a mixed farming business including a 100-cow continental cross suckler herd as well as sheep and arable.
More panellists will be announced shortly.
City Meat Lecture event details
The City Meat Lecture will take place at Butchers’ Hall in London on Wednesday 26th November 2025.
Doors open at 6.00pm and the lecture will start at 6.30pm, followed by the Q&A session and discussion, after which there will be a buffet supper and networking opportunity. The event will finish at approximately 9.00pm.
For more information and to book tickets, click here. If you have any questions or need assistance with your booking, email bookings@butchershall.com.
Tickets cost £102pp, and a 50% discount is available for WCB Young Butchers and corporate partners’ nominees.
