Northampton cheese shop owner reveals his best-selling cheeses on National Cheese Lover’s Day

A recent study crowned cheddar as the UK’s favourite cheese in 2022. Was this case in Northampton at the start of the New Year?

I put the question to Steve, who has owned artisan cheese shop St. Giles Cheese, in St Giles Street, for more than 12 years.

He said: “I think so. We sell more cheddar cheese than anything else. We do five or six different cheddars and they are all very popular. However the difference between factory manufactured and our cheddars is in the preparation and flavour.

"Our bestseller is an 18-month-old vintage cheddar all the way from Britain’s Cheddar Gorge. This cheese has been lovingly looked after by hand which results in a much better flavour.

“One of the nicest thing about a naturally produced vintage cheddar is that the flavour will linger in the palate for about 10 minutes after you eat it.”

It certainly lingered on mine!

British cheddar has competition from the French version of cheddar, which also is another best-seller, Steve revealed.

The French Comte from Jura in France is also very popular with Northampton residents, he explained.

“It is also notoriously Raymond Blanc’s favourite cheese. His mother used to cook with it when he was growing up as a child. This cheese is characterised by its nuttiness.”

Steve revealed the last of his most popular cheeses was the Colston Bassett Blue Stilton.

“It’s one of a handful of really good quality Stiltons from Nottinghamshire, he explained.

“Colston Bassett is a really Christmassy cheese. We sold somewhere in the region of 60 kilos in December,” he said. “Over the year it’s one of our most popular cheeses.”

I left St. Giles Cheese shop with the Blue lingering in my palate and with the desire to widen my cheese buying choices.