On Monday 15th October, political leaders, and business professionals from Gibraltar with an eye on inward investment, gathered at the Guildhall in the City of London to showcase Gibraltar to a wide range of actual and potential clients. A huge effort is made by a large number of individuals and organisations to make Gibraltar Day successful. And once again, I believe it was successful.

This year was the 13th successive year the event has been held. It is hard to measure the success of the day in terms of new business generated for Gibraltar. However, the fact that the lunch for over 300 people is oversubscribed, that nearly 1,000 attend the Guildhall in the evening, and that private businesses from Gibraltar incur not an inconsiderable sum to attend, suggests that the day achieves its objective.

Each delegate from Gibraltar will have most likely organised their own timetable with their own contacts well in advance, to maximise their time in London. In my own case, I was meeting an American colleague face to face for the first time, with whom I have been working for some time, albeit he is based in Poland and this was our best opportunity to meet. The idea is to launch a Polish Biogas Renewable Energy Experienced Investor Fund using Gibraltar funds’ legislation. Gibraltar Day cemented this relationship and with my client suitably impressed with his day trip to the City from Poland just for lunch, I am sure this will happen, which will benefit ‘Gibraltar PLC’.

The Gibraltar lunch event hosted by the Finance Centre started at 12.30pm in the Old Library at the Guildall, a switch away from last year’s venue, Gibson Hall in Bishopsgate. The historic venue, the scale of the event and the compelling speech from the Chief Minister on the strength of the Gibraltar economy and the quality of the regulatory regime of the Finance Centre all contributed to a sense of pride amongst those of us representing Gibraltar. The guests I spoke to were clearly impressed.

Other meetings for me included advancing a European real estate mandate for Chesterton Gibraltar from a private equity firm, exploring further the Hideaways Experienced Investor Fund’s new properties strategy with the London based team, and liaising with a client on the potential purchase of three small hotels in the UK where Chesterton Gibraltar is the introductory agent. With the backdrop of the Guildhall, the credible and robust ambience of the Gibraltar professional circuit in attendance, together with the political speeches, it’s a great event at which to do business.

The lunch event had ended by 3pm and delegates either returned to their own private meetings, went shopping or had a rest.

At 6pm, we were back at the Guildhall, but this time in the Great Hall, for the much larger and more informal evening event hosted by Gibraltar’s London office. Parts of the Guildhall date back to 1411 and it is a truly impressive building, even more so with the Gibraltar Coat of Arms projected onto its facia for the evening.

The Great Hall itself, is the third largest civic hall in England, where royalty and state visitors have been entertained for many centuries. The Coronation Lunch to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was held here on 12 June 1953. It has also been the setting for famous state trials, including that of Lady Jane Grey in 1553.

Inside the Guildhall the Gibraltar community mixed and mingled with their own guests, plus representatives from the armed forces, a number of British MP’s, clergy, titled gentry and many other ‘friends of Gibraltar’.

The Chief Minister made another confident speech to a welcoming throng of Gibraltar supporters and the feeling of Gibraltar being safe in our politician’s hands was further endorsed with a welcoming speech from City Alderman Ian Luder on behalf of the Lord Mayor of London, and a rousing speech from Mark Simmonds MP, Minister for the Overseas Territories, who repeated the British Government’s official position on Gibraltar. “We will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their wishes. Furthermore, we will not enter into any process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.” It was what the audience expected to hear and wanted to hear and the applause filled the auditorium.

At 8.15pm guests were ushered outside to watch a magnificent performance by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Band and Corps of Drums and the Drums and Pipes of the London Scottish Regiment. At 8.45pm, the ceremony and the event itself, ended with the National Anthem.

Having seemingly talked and listened non-stop for a number of hours with clients, it was time for some relaxation. Seven of us decamped to Hawksmoor, a nearby City restaurant which served a great dinner whilst we shared stories of the day, although it must be said that, as tiredness had set in, the taxi back to the hotel was most welcome.

I am writing this article on the morning after Easyjet flight back to Gibraltar. There are a lot of tired but familiar faces who have just represented Gibraltar in the City of London. It’s another Gibraltar Day finished and others can judge its value for money for the Gibraltar tax payer. I, for one, am a believer.