Highlights Through History

1768 - First English speaking Chamber of Commerce is established in Jersey

1783 - Glasgow and Belfast Chambers founded

1785 - Leeds and Edinburgh Chambers founded

1813 - A series of Chambers established in Birmingham, Manchester and other major UK cities

1860 - Association of the Chambers of Commerce (later BCC) in the UK was established

1873 - First British bilateral Chamber was formed, the British Chambers of Commerce in France

1882 - London Chamber of Commerce was established

1888 - First evidence of issue of Certificates of Origin by Chambers. UK Chamber Network now process in excess of half a million documents e very year for businesses

1905 - First international congress of Chambers held in Liege

1914 - Chamber activity to prepare business for impact of First World War

1917 - Board of Trade proposes official recognition of Chambers of Commerce as part of Form ‘K’ scheme

1939 - Chambers play part in Second World War

1952 - Patronage of HM The Queen granted

1964 - Leeds Chamber begins first Chamber quarterly economic survey

1964 - First Chamber export mission under new government scheme from Birmingham to Japan and Hong Kong

1989 - Association of British Chambers of Commerce wins tender to manage Export Marketing Research Scheme

1992 - Birmingham and Norfolk Chambers the first Chambers to be approved under the new Association of British Chambers of Commerce accreditation scheme

1993 - Change of title to British Chambers of Commerce

1995 - Sussex and Milton Keynes the first fully accredited Chambers

1996 - Launch of the approved Chamber network

1999 - New electronic document processing system, e-cert eXpress, is launched saving 100,000 businesses time and money every year

2001 - Chambers win Business Link franchises

2001 - Tony Blair speaks at the BCC Annual Conference

2003 - British Chambers of Commerce Enterprises established & BCC moves to Petty France

2004 - National Chamber Awards launched & Greater Manchester Chamber formed with more than 6,000 members

2006 - North Wales & West Cheshire, Mid Yorkshire and Northern Ireland Chambers join BCC

2007 - Cornwall Chamber joins the BCC

2008 - British Chambers of Commerce rebrands as the Ultimate Business Network

2008 - Quarterly Economic Survey predicts UK going into recession

2009 - BCC celebrated 20 years of delivering the Export Marketing Research Scheme

2010 - GWE Business West joins the BCC.

A History of Chambers of Commerce in the UK 
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