The BES was founded in 1990, with the aim, as formally defined in its Constitution, of promoting friendship and bilateral relations between the UK and Egypt, in all fields - cultural, commercial, economic and educational - for the benefit of the community at large. There is an elected Executive Committee comprising a roughly equal number of British and Egyptian members, and an Honorary President who is the serving Egyptian Ambassador in London.

The Society sees its main function as being to provide a forum in which British people interested in Egypt and Egyptians living in Britain can meet to further their mutual interests through a variety of social and other activities. The highlight of the social programme is an Annual Dinner, usually held at one of the leading London hotels, at which the guests of honour have included the Foreign Ministers and other cabinet ministers of the UK and Egypt; in 1991 the Society hosted the dinner at the British Museum in honour of President and Mrs Mubarak that marked the end of their State Visit and was attended by nine members of the Royal Family. Another such occasion, at which the guest of honour was the distinguished surgeon Professor Magdi Yacoub, featured an auction that raised over £10,000 for the Harefield Hospital. The evening also includes some form of entertainment, which in 2001 was a spectacular performance of Egyptian song and dance by the "Youth of the Nile" Group.

The Society also runs a programme of lectures by authoritative speakers on a wide range of topics. In the field of Egyptology, the British Museum has kindly arranged for members of the Society to visit some of its special exhibitions. Other topics have included Medicine in Ancient Egypt, Islamic Cairo, by Professor Michael Rogers; King Farouk, by Dr Charles Tripp of SOAS; the history of the Egyptian Embassy in London (Bute House); Tourism in Egypt, by the Director of the Egyptian Tourist Bureau Mrs Khafaga; Tapestries of the Wissa Wassef Art Centre, by Hilary Weir; and the film Al-Muhajir by Yusuf Chahine. On two occasions the author Ahdaf Soueif has spoken about her work at informal social evenings. This summer the Society held a Summer Lunch at the Sussex home of two of the Committee members.