Neal’s Yard Dairy was founded in 1979 by Randolph Hodgson, a keen but inexperienced cheesemaker, in a small shop tucked away in what had previously been a derelict corner of London’s Covent Garden – the eponymous Neal’s Yard.

With its wholefoods store and coffee roastery, Neal’s Yard would soon become a popular destination for food lovers, including farmhouse cheesemakers who would call in at Neal’s Yard Dairy, which in those early days was making and selling Greek-style yoghurt, creme fraiche and a couple of cheeses. 

Randolph began visiting their farms, learning about their work and bringing some of their cheeses back to his shop – one of the few places in the country that would offer them an outlet. As his immersion into this small community of British cheesemakers deepened, Neal’s Yard Dairy offered a route for Randolph to share with world those cheeses he fell in love with that were otherwise being neglected.