Neal’s Yard Dairy is an English cheesemonger founded in Covent Garden in 1979 by Randolph Hodgson and Nicholas Saunders. What started as a small shop in Covent Garden soon gained a cult following amongst followers, growing into the British cheese powerhouse it is today. Neal’s Yard Dairy now own a maturation arch in Bermondsey, where British and Irish cheeses are aged and sold to restaurants, suppliers and their five shops in London.

Is cheese big business?

We have been in business since 1979 and have been growing ever since then. We sell in the UK, but we also export across the world.

Do cheesemongers wake up early?

Yes, cheesemongers do wake up early. The first shift, if you're in the maturation team, starts at 4am. If you're working in retail, you can be up between five and six to kind of get the shop ready. So yeah, early.

What Happens at 4am?

At 4am, you could be checking in deliveries, maturing cheeses, which can be all different jobs depending on whether you’re looking after soft cheese or hard cheese. A lot of cleaning.

Are cheeses quite fragile and delicate, can things go wrong if you don’t care for them correctly?

Yes, cheese is quite fragile and delicate, soft cheeses especially. Each cheese has specific needs and those needs can differ batch by batch. So, it’s constant checking and making sure that you're aware of the different needs of those cheeses, changing the temperature, and humidity.

What kind of things are you looking out for, what’s a sign that it’s going well?

It’s dependent on each cheese. We're looking for certain flavours and textures within those cheeses and certain variations within that.

So, it’s an effort of manipulating the cheeses how you want them?

Yes, it is a process of manipulating each cheese, depending on how you want them to be.

Are there stages in the maturation where you can take cheese in a different direction?

Yes, the St Cera, for example, is a cheese that we really affect by washing the outside in a salt water solution, almost like a brine. And, we take the St Jude from something that's quite light, mild and mousse-y into something that's a bit more oozy and funky.

What’s the scrubbing in process like?

The scrubbing in process involves a lot of scrubbing. We scrub the treads on our boots, we scrub and hose down our aprons and then dry them off. Cleaning and cleanliness is incredibly important.

How long have you worked at Neal’s Yard Dairy?

I’ve worked at Neal’s Yard Dairy between eight and nine years. A lot of people stay at the dairy a long time. I think because it's quite infectious, cheese is a really wonderful industry to work in, especially at Neal’s Yard Dairy, you have a close relationship with the cheese makers and the wider food community.

Is there anyone who’s been here since the very beginning?

We have people that have been here from very, very early on. Our directors have been here a very long time, pretty much since the beginning of the company. And that's invaluable really, because to be able to have people working here that have seen it grow and know the core of the business is really, really important.

You described Neal’s Yard Dairy as a bit of a cult earlier on?

Some people could describe it as a cult. I think because it just gets in you, and it's such a fantastic place to work. It's such a great industry, and you get to eat so much cheese. I think it does keep us all here longer.

The cheese keeps us here, the love of the cheese.

Do you feel that cheesemaking is an endless pursuit?

I think people get into cheese making because they really care about what you can do with this one ingredient.

All cheese starts with one ingredient, milk. Depending on how you treat that and your process, you can make infinite different cheeses. For us and a lot of the cheesemakers at Neal’s Yard Dairy, it's about heritage, it's about tradition and honouring that. Especially with territorial cheeses like Lancashire and Cheshire and a lot of the cheddars it's really important to keep that tradition alive and to really champion that and I think that's what keeps people making and enjoying their product.

You take milk and you add starter, rennet or both and you can create any cheese product. You get these very minimal ingredients, you put them together and you can make an infinite number of different cheeses.

What are some of the best cheeses that you stock at Neal’s Yard Dairy at the moment?

Applebee's Cheshire, which is an acidic, crumbly, fruity cheese. I'm also a big fan of Havard Cheddar, which is made in Wales, it’s quite creamy and floral but it can be quite brothy and rich.

I also really love some of the soft goat's cheeses like Brightwell Ash, that are mousse-y, light and springy.

Were you interested in cheese before you started working at Neal’s Yard Dairy?

I was really interested in cheese before I started working here, but mostly interested in eating cheese. As I started working here and learning about the rich history of cheesemaking that we have in this country and how vast it is, I got more interested in the history as well.

Is it quite hard to get rid of the smell of cheese after work?

It can be quite hard to get rid of the smell of cheese after work.

I think especially when you first start working here, you smell it way more. Now I'm probably quite desensitised to it.

There have been times before when we've bought stinky cheese after work and you're sitting on the bus and you're thinking, "What's that smell?" And then you realise, it's you.

Are women well represented in cheese and could it better?

I think that female representation could be better in cheese.

Originally, it was a woman's craft. The men would go and work out in the land and the women would make the cheese. Those women are the ones who have really paved the way for how we make our traditional cheeses in this country. It slowly became more male dominated and I think that there could be more representation. There are a lot of women who work in cheese, and I think that should be shown.

There are historical figures in cheesemaking, like Edith Cannon, who wrote recipes on how to make cheddar, we still use those recipes as a go-to today.

Ruth Kirkham, who started making Kirkham’s Lancashire, would time the cheese make around the running of the day, it's woven into family life.

The history of cheese is quite British?

Yes, at Neal’s Yard Dairy we just sell British and Irish cheeses. And, I think when people think of cheese, they think of France, Italy and Spain, when actually we have so many cheeses here in England.

Do you think that British cheese is appreciated by consumers in Europe?

France is one of our biggest customers, loads of cheese shops in Paris, in particular, sell our cheeses. I think maybe other countries understand it sometimes more than we do.

Do you work directly with a lot of restaurants in the UK?

We work directly with a lot of restaurants in the UK and that's really an exciting and fun part of our job to see how chefs across the country take our cheese and use it.

Sometimes you get out after work and go to a restaurant and they'll have Neal’s Yard Dairy cheese on the menu?

I've had Neal’s Yard Dairy cheeses in a lot of places. Camille, Cafe Deco, Cafe Cecilia and St John have been a champion of ours for a long time.

What are some of the best relationships you have with farmers and restaurants in the industry?

Human relationships are definitely at the core of what makes us successful. One of the main parts of our job and our business is to go and visit farms and have that face to face interaction with the cheesemakers, to be able to select each batch that we bring to London to then mature, it's very, very important.

What’s your favourite thing about cheese, is it the smell, texture or taste and what do you most enjoy from a tactile sense?

From a tactile sense, I definitely most enjoy the taste. I also enjoy the texture, a nice crumbly bit of Lancashire is very satisfying, it can be as satisfying as the nice buttery taste.

So do you enjoy sort of more out there, cheeses that are sharp or funky?

“You know, it's always fun to have quite a gnarly out there cheese, but I think as you kind of stay in the business longer and longer, you appreciate a kind of subtlety and everyday staple.

Initially, when you come in, you want to try wild cheeses, but over time, you take an interest in quite simple, pure cheeses?

Exactly, when you start, you are chasing those big bold flavours which are great but I think over time you want that kind of pureness or lighter herbaceous cheese.

Do you feel that’s where the real craft of cheesemaking is most noticeable, in those simple cheeses?

In particular, raw milk cheese making, you can really taste subtle differences, more so than in pasteurised cheeses. You can taste what the cows have been grazing on and the seasonality of the cheese.