51°30′51″N0°07′34″W / 51.51424°N 0.12619°W /51.51424; -0.12619
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 Storefront inShorts Gardens, Covent Garden | |
| Company type | Private |
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| Industry | Dairy products |
| Founded | 1979; 46 years ago (1979) inNeal's Yard, Covent Garden, London, England |
| Founders | Nicholas Saunders Randolph Hodgson |
| Headquarters | Arch 6, Apollo Business Park St James's Road, Bermondsey, London |
Number of locations | 4 (2022)[1] |
| Website | www |
Neal's Yard Dairy is a London artisanalcheese retailer, wholesaler and (formerly)cheesemaker in London, which was founded byNicholas Saunders and Randolph Hodgson in 1979. It has been described as "London's foremost cheese store."[2] As of 2020 the company has three shops and a cheese store in London.
Neal's Yard Dairy was founded in 1979 byNicholas Saunders and Randolph Hodgson after Saunders returned from a 1978 trip toGreece and could not findGreek yoghurt for sale in London. Scouring the city for anyone familiar with it, and finding none, he decided to open his own dairy. While looking for people to run it, he eventually met Hodgson, who had recently graduated with a degree infood science. Saunders was skeptical of Hodgson's degree, considering it useless, but found him willing to experiment. When they opened in July 1979, their yoghurt tasted terrible, which was eventually traced to thevarnish on the curing cupboards. They launched the shop with a line of ice creams and homemade soft cheeses, and within a few months had solved the problems with the yoghurt.[3][4] The original store, located inNeal's Yard,Covent Garden, London, is considered an important part of the revival of the immediate area.[5]
One of the first customers wasMonty Python'sJohn Cleese. The new owners were still learning how to make cheese, and "had only managedyoghurt that day, so it all rather descended into aMonty Python sketch".[4] Despite this rocky start, the store grew from a cheesemaker into a retailer of artisanal, mostly British and Irish cheeses (including farmhouseCheddar cheese and varieties such asStinking Bishop), spinning off the cheesemaking operation asNeal's Yard Creamery in 1985.[6][7]
The shop moved around the corner to 17Shorts Gardens in 1992.[8] A cheese store was opened inBorough Market in 1997,[9] which opened as a second shop in 1998.[10] By 2010 the cheese store was moved to railway arches in Druid Street,Bermondsey.[11] Together withMonmouth Coffee Company and a property company, Neal's Yard Dairy took a lease on a stretch of railway arches aroundSpa Road railway station in Bermondsey to provide accommodation for food manufacturers and wholesalers.[12] The company headquarters moved into railway arches atSpa Terminus in 2018.[13] In 2020 the company opened a fourth shop in Islington.[14]
As of 2020, the company sells about 550tonnes of cheese a year through its shops, exports and online.[15]
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