Inspirational Cheese Retailers 2024: Newlyns Farm Shop

Like many farm shops, Newlyns began life in order for The Janaways to sell the livestock reared on their family farm. Starting off with a small shop focusing on butchery – plus fruit and vegetables, a small deli counter serving homemade products from the kitchen, and British cheese and charcuterie – the business soon grew.

“Over the last 20 years the shop has grown considerably,” begins Jo Moody, assistant store manager at Newlyns Farm Shop, “and in 2018, when space became available, cheese moved into its own purpose-built room.” Despite not coming from a cheese background, Jo was determined to set herself – and the cheese room – up for success. “Although I had worked with food before, my knowledge of cheese was week so I set myself a challenge to learn everything I could so I could talk confidently to customers,” she explains. “When you start to learn about the world of cheese you quickly become passionate about it, and I love passing this on to both the customers and staff.”

Newlyns Farm Shop is luckily to have some of the very best British cheeses made locally. “Tunworth and Winslade by Hampshire Cheese Co; Spenwood, Wigmore Waterloo, Maida Vale, Waterloo and now Barkham Blue from Village Maid; Winchester and Stoney Cross from Lyburn.” The Cheese Room also hosts a handful of iconic Continental cheeses which there aren’t quality UK-made alternatives for. 

Cutting edge cheese care
The room itself has been specifically designed to care for the artisanal products within – to ensure that they are kept and presented at their best. “The room itself is unique,” explains Jo. “It is temperature and humidity-controlled to give the perfect conditions for keeping cheese. During the day it is set to a nippy but customer-friendly 10-12 degrees centigrade, and this allows us to have all our cheese unwrapped and cut to order. At the end of the day everything is carefully wrapped up and the room drops to normal fridge temperature overnight.”

In addition, says Jo, “the Cheese Room has a ripening chamber which allows us to nurture cheeses so they are ready to eat and enjoy as soon as the customer gets home.” With such care and attention to detail bestowed upon the cheeses in their care, no wonder Newlyns Farm Shop’s reputation precedes it. “We pride ourselves on the quality of our cheese and how we take care of it, and this has helped us gain a reputation for being ‘the’ place to get cheese in quite a wide area,” Jo says.

With a varied range of customers seeking out great cheese, customer service comes front and centre at Newlyns Farm Shop. “We have a very mixed customer base in both age and spend,” explains Jo. “It is important to talk to the customer and gain their confidence in what you are selling. If they are new, find out what they would normally buy, even from the supermarkets, as it gives you an idea on what to guide them towards.” Of course, everyone appreciates connection in a retail environment, and building these bonds has proven fruitful for Jo. “Recognising regular customers and remembering their favourites is also important as you can always tempt them with something new.” 

The restrictions put in place as a result of the Covid pandemic were the greatest challenge that Jo experienced since opening the Cheese Room. “The room is small and to adhere to guidelines we could only take one customer at a time in the room, which slowed down our ability to sell.” With some strategic moves, Jo and the team were able to make it work despite the challenges. “We closed the room to customers, displayed as much as we could in the windows, placed tables at both doors and served the customers from there. It worked – with the team based in the room we could help three to four people at a time. However, the customers were very pleased to come back into the room when life returned to normal.”

Read about all of the Inspirational Cheese Retailers by downloading the supplement.