Heidelberg pulled out of Ipex last summer and, speaking at the time, Heanue hinted that the press manufacturer might consider holding an open house event at its Brentford showroom in west London to coincide with the show.

The company has now confirmed it will hold a three-day open house event, for customers from the UK, Sweden, Denmark and South Africa. The company is currently finalising what kit will be on display in Brentford, but confirmed that the open house would take place during Ipex on 26, 27 and 28 March.

“We always said that if we held an event it would be a complementary event to Ipex – the hope is that they will also attend Ipex. Equally, people that are attending the show might want to come to our open house,” said Heanue.

“We’re also going hold a ‘celebration of print’ at Stationers Hall for UK and Ireland companies that have done business with us to say thank you.”

Heanue announced the ‘celebration’ at his cloathing ceremony at Stationers’ Hall, near St Paul’s Cathedral last week.

“What was lovely about the ceremony was that it was held in a building that has been used by printers since the 1600s. Even though Heidelberg is a corporate member, I wanted to get more personally involved,” said Heanue.

William Alden, clerk of the Stationers’ Company, added: “We are really delighted that Gerard wants to become more involved with the Company and to be a Liveryman in his own right.

"The strength of the Livery is that it does attract a wide range of very capable people who care about our industry and heritage and who will work to ensure we remain modern and forward-thinking, relevant to the multi-media age we live in.”