The Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been established in Leicestershire since 1860 and this year will be celebrating its 150th Anniversary!!  Founded in April 1860 following a meeting of Merchants, Manufacturers and others interested in trade in Leicester to look after the interests of local businesses, the Chamber is still going strong a century and a half later.

It was affiliated to the 'Association of British Chambers of Commerce' in 1887. Chambers of Commerce have come a long way since their origins -since the Middle Ages when there had been merchants groupings, and onto the end of the 16th century when the title "chambre de commerce" first emerged in Marseilles, France.

The first Chambers in the English-speaking world were established in 1768 in Jersey, and oddly enough in New York, which at that time was still a British colony. Thereafter, Chambers were set up and evolved at varying speeds in other parts of the UK.

The early British Chambers were formed to provide a voice for businessmen coping with the changes wrought by the industrial revolution, and were used to lobby Government for improvements to canals, roads, the postal system and legal framework.

It is therefore not surprising to learn that even today, British Chambers are here primarily to represent the views and interests of their Members, our business people, at a local, regional and national level, and work to achieve the goal of ensuring that the 'voice' of the business community is well heard and fully understood.

Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce extols the very essence of this statement, and wholly values the support and input that it receives from its 1500 dedicated members.