CHEESE

 

See Also: DEVELOPMENTS Canary Wharf, Cheese; FOOD; FOOD MARKETS, FORMER; M.I.5 Crowson & Sons; PUBS Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

 

Chiswick

Chiswick s name is derived from the Old English Ceswican, which meant cheese farm.

Location: Chiswick High Road, W4 1SZ

 

Eighteenth-Century Cheese

In the 18thC cheese was a seasonal product. It was made with excess milk during the summer.

Suffolk cheese was the standard Navy fare until 1758. It kept well but was almost inedible. In 1758 the service switched to Gloucester and Cheshire. These were more much expensive and perished more easily.

In the 18thC Cheshire, Lancashire and Warwickshire accounted for over half of London's cheese. The first two varieties arrived by sea.

 

Jeroboams

Jeroboams operates a chain of fromageries that also sell wines and spirits. The first one was opened in South Kensington. The business moved to Holland Park Avenue.

In 2003 Jeroboams took over the Mr Christian's Delicatessen in Notting Hill. The following year it acquired the business that owned the whisky retailer Milroys of Soho.

In 2008 there were eight Jeroboam branded outlets.

Location: 96 Holland Park Avenue, W11 3RB (purple, pink)

Website: https://jeroboams.co.uk

 

La Fromagerie

La Fromagerie is a fromagerie. The business was founded in Highbury in 1992 by the husband and wife Danny (d.2020) and Patricia Michelson.

Location: 2-6 Moxon Street, W1U 4EW (orange, purple)

Website: www.lafromagerie.co.uk

 

The Ministry of Food

During the Second World War the Ministry of Food restricted British cheese production to six hard cheeses. Following the securing of peace, it took time for soft cheese production to revive. Cheesemakers looked to overseas producers for information about techniques. When seeking to use these the Britons sometimes made mistakes, some of which led to the creation of new varieties of cheese.

Location: Montagu House, Whitehall, SW1A 2EU. Demolished. (purple, grey)

 

Neal's Yard Dairy

Neal s Yard Dairy played a prominent role in reviving interest in British-made soft cheeses.

Location: 17 Short's Gardens, WC2H 9UP (grey, red)

See Also: DISTRICT CHANGE Covent Garden, Neal's Yard

Website: www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk

 

Paxton & Whitfield

The cheese shop Paxton & Whitfield can trace its antecedents back to a business that was established in the early 1700s in Clare Market, near the Aldwych. The business's founder was one Sam Cullum, the son of a Suffolk swordmaker ( Cullum disappeared from the business's name in 1797). The company has been in its present premises since the late 1860s.

Location: 93 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6JE (red, purple)

Website: www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

 

Samuel Pepys

In 1666, during the Great Fire of London, the diarist Samuel Pepys was careful to bury a parmesan cheese that he owned in his garden in case his house was burned down.1

Location: Hart Street, EC3R 7NB (blue, lime green)

See Also: THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON; ROYAL STATUES King Charles I Charing Cross

1. As matters turned out, Pepys's home was one of the minority of properties in London that survived the Fire intact.

David Backhouse 2024