Cheese Shops

Christmas and New Year have traditionally been the time for British cheeses: smooth, stinking blocks of stilton at the centre of the table, or matured cheddar, almost strong enough to burn your mouth, eaten in thick wedges with chutney and oatcakes. Though these matured cheeses are particularly suitable over the bank holidays, when they can be wrapped and refrigerated without loosing their flavour and texture, soft cheeses are also becoming increasingly popular, with English goats cheeses, and the semi-liquid French winter cheese, Vacherin, a perfect end to a rich roast. All of the delicatessens previously mentioned in this article have a chiller cabinet of cheese, but if you want huge choice, and specialist advice, you're best advised to try one of London's increasing number of specialist fromageries as listed below...

La Fromagerie

2 Moxon Street, W1U 4EW
If you want to break out of your cheddar comfort-zone, but are bewildered by the choice available (and by the tendency of French cheeses to suddenly collapse into a foul-smelling goo that taints everything in your fridge), then you head to La Fromagerie, where try-before-you-buy is the rule, and the bustling cafe serves up all kinds of products from the shop. They have courses and tastings, and the staff can advise you on how to construct the perfect cheeseboard to follow any meal, and the wines to go with it. There are branches in Marylebone (details below) and Highbury.

More info: La Fromagerie Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

Neal's Yard Dairy Covent Garden

17 Shorts Gardens, WC2H 9UP
This most charming of central London cheese shops no longer has its own dairy on-site, though it is still particularly noted for the type of young, soft cheeses it used to make. There’s also an impressive range of mature cheese, from their own dairy in Kent and micro-producers throughout Britain. This year, they're offering a quite exceptional stilton-like British cheese, called Stichelton, as the perfect thing to accompany a glass of port after dinner. Details below are for the branch in Covent Garden – which has the advantage of being right at the heart of London’s best gift-shopping area. There's also a branch in Borough Market.

Stichelton: £21.60/kg
Montgomerie's cheddar: £19.55/kg

More info: Neal's Yard Dairy Covent Garden Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube

Cheese at Leadenhall

4 - 5 Leadenhall Market, EC3V 1LR
The smelliest spot in Leadenhall Market is this delightful fromagerie, where around 200 varieties of cheese jostle for space with wine, biscuits and harassed City traders under STRICT orders from their wives to bring a Vacherin back to Hampshire for Christmas Day. Leadenhall Market is well worth dropping in on if you're in the City during the festive season, as it also contains a fantastic fish stall (H S Linwood), and lots of formal wear and accessories shops to buy presents for the man in your life.

Stilton: £16.90/kg
Vacherin: £16.90/kg

More info: Cheese at Leadenhall Map, Prices, Opening Times and Nearest Tube