Speciality Food Inspirational Cheese Retailers 2025

specialityfoodmagazine.com 35 “I just lovemy shop,” says Morgan. “It’s such a big part of my life. It’s my baby, and I’m really proud of it. It’s just so special. I love the customers, my girls, and being able to sharemy passion with everyone else. People here have knownme for such a long time. I can’t imaginemy life without this, and without the community.” WHY I LOVE BEING A CHEESEMONGER WE’VE GOT THIS AMAZING, MELTING POT OF CUSTOMERS AND IT’S SO EXCITING A unique experience A visit to Cheeses of Muswell Hill is made all the more special thanks to the stunning property that houses all the goodies within. “It’s a really rare shop,” Morgan explains. “It’s an Edwardian building, and the curved glass is probably worthmore thanmy house!” At a mere 7mby 2m, it can be described as bijoux, and this, naturally, lends itself to super personal service. “You’d be lucky to get three people in at once,” Morgan laughs. “When you walk in, because of the size, you’re overtaken by cheese in the best possible way. I sometimes say ‘just open the doors’. We don’t need advertising, people follow their nose to us.” Around 220 to 250 cheeses find their way into a counter, withMorgan’s cheese obsession and quest for newness meaning the fridge changes all the time, bursting with seasonal and speciality varieties, products she’s personally in love with, and even exclusive cheeses made for the shop. “It’s only the best. I say ‘the nicest of the nice’.” The split is 50% British and 50% ‘rest of the world’, because Morgan really does scour the cheese universe, feeding her own desire to procure flavours and formats rarely seen in other cheesemongers. There are, of course, the classics fromFrance, Spain and Italy, but on any given day customers might also see cheeses fromNorway, Germany and America. “We have a great rapport with our clients, whichmeans if there is a cheese I love that I think it could be changed or added to, they will make it for me,” she adds. “Things like our pistachio Brie, which is insane. We can say ‘this will work really well’, and a couple of weeks later it’s in the shop.” Building communities Being viral on TikTok (with videos getting up to 5 million views) Morgan has managed to, of course, build her customer base. After sharing a clip of her pistachio Brie recently, for example, she says a 17-year-old got in touch, wanting to know the shop’s opening times. “I’ve achieved what I wanted,” she says, “to appeal to so manymore people than you’d usually find in a traditional cheese shop”. That’s not to say regulars (who are, like her suppliers, akin to family) are left behind. “We have the doctor who deliveredme, the doctor that delivered my baby, old teachers. We’ve got this amazing, melting pot of customers and it’s so exciting. I love it. “Sunday Brunch has givenme this ridiculously large platform to share my love of cheese with people all over the country and of all different ages, which I’m so grateful for.”