We Mean Business: ‘It never ends,’ says founder of family-run deli and cheese shop at the heart of Northampton town centre
The next to speak out as part of We Mean Business is the co-founder of a family-run deli and cheese shop, which has been a long-standing staple in Northampton town centre for the past 15 years.
Launched in February, the Chronicle & Echo’s new campaign hopes to help curb future business closures after a bleak start to 2026 across the town.
The twice-weekly stories spotlight what Northampton stands to lose if your favourite businesses were to close down, highlight the biggest challenges they currently face, and encourage greater support from the powers that be and the community before it is too late.
Steve and Caroline Ward set up St Giles Cheese back in 2010 following a holiday to France, where they enjoyed all the products they are now accustomed to selling to the community.
The much-loved business specialises in the finer things in life and the team is committed to finding and creating the best of everything they offer.
Let’s take a look at what Steve had to say…
How would you summarise your experience of running an independent business in Northampton at the moment, and what are the biggest challenges you currently face?
“It’s a challenge but we like to stay positive,” he said. “Rising prices and costs are big challenges, and we’ve been hit with big increases in rates. The BID levy has more than doubled for us.
“Power, electricity and fuel costs filter through to absolutely everything we do. It just never seems to stop, it never ends. Things have gone up so much more in the last five years compared to the five years previous.
“Prices were really stable for a long time and went up in small increments you would expect. I don’t analyse or study the numbers too much, or work out exact percentage increases, as it would make me give up.”
When asked how this impacts the daily running of St Giles Cheese, Steve continued: “It affects our bottom line. There are ceilings on products which you know you can’t sell items for more than. It reduces our margins.
“We’ve had to look at other avenues and start producing little sidelines that complement what we do. It’s something we thought at the beginning of the year and we’ve worked hard to bring in to keep the income up.
“I’ve made a few condiments and started baking the odd thing here and there. It makes a small difference and keeps us on a level.”
What more do you believe could be done by the local authority and national government to minimise your current challenges and ensure your survival throughout 2026?
Steve said: “There’s always more that can be done but we know there’s no golden pot of money they can magically give us.
“Our business rates have been reevaluated and our premises always used to come under the threshold for the rate relief fund. Now they’ve decided it’s a tiny amount over and we’ll have a rate bill we didn’t have before.
“It has a knock-on effect as that’s tied to the BID levy. It’s not a huge amount of money but it’s another one of a string of things. This is a national government scheme that filters down through the councils.
“The rateable value of our premises is decided by the government and we’ve tried to query it. We can’t get to speak to anyone and they point us to the portal – it’s impossible to query.”
What do you believe Northampton stands to lose if your business were to close down? What unique offerings do you bring to the town that would be sorely missed?
“We bring individuality and what we do stands out,” said Steve. “It gives people more choice and access to the things we do. Nobody else does this in the town and you’d have to go to a bigger town or London to buy some of the things we do.”
What small actions can our readers and the Northampton community take to support your business in 2026?
Steve said: “Just keep coming in, even if it’s once a month or every two months. Christmas is incredible and we love that people come in, but they say see you next year and that strikes a chord. We want to say please come in another time, more than once a year, but we want them to come back.”
Social media now has less of an impact on the success of St Giles Cheese than it used to, especially as the business’ following was built on Instagram, Facebook and what was Twitter at the time.
“We’ve noticed that even though we have infinitely more people following us, it does a lot less,” said Steve. “We have new customers every week and that’s what makes what we do enjoyable. Seeing the wow factor on their faces and being impressed by what’s in front of them brings us so much joy.
“What I’ve said is negative but we’ve had a brilliant start to the year. Historically, it doesn’t kick off after Christmas until Valentine’s Day and since then it’s been good week in week out. We’re not used to it.”
Although Steve cannot pinpoint why custom levels have been so positive for St Giles Cheese at the start of 2026, the business owner wonders whether their active social media presence is making more of a difference than they realise. “We’re doing the best we can,” Steve concluded.