Conversations with…The Crafty Cheese Man September 10, 2020

Here we go with round 2 of our ‘Conversations with…’ series, letting you get to know who’s behind our new food menu a little better. If you’re a big fan of all things cheese, you’ll want to read this…Conversation with @thecraftycheeseman.

The man behind the cheese, Jonathan, started his business just before lockdown to champion the incredible, passionate people working in the cheese industry. He works directly with quality cheese-makers in the North, connecting them with like-minded businesses who’re interested in speciality, locally-sourced ingredients to create a community of fantastic people who work to help each other out.

Though he might be a crafty Southerner, it’s the North that brought him to cheese. From training staff at Booth’s supermarket in all things cheese to making his own Blacksticks Blue, Jonathan has gained a passion and knowledge for cheese that makes him the true (Northern) cheese man he is!

Now he works on The Crafty Cheeseman from an old dairy in Preston that used to make cheese 10 years ago. He supplies from some of the best cheesemakers in the country like Dewlay Cheesemakers, a 4th generation family run business making delicious Lancashire cheese, and JJ Sandham in Garstang, a quaint traditional cheesemakers, most famous for smoking up to 4 tonnes of cheese a day!

You can find his cheese, like the Garstone White and Dewlay’s Lancashire cheese, on our menu in our Cheeseboard, our Three Cheese Terrine and our Rarebit. His speciality cheeses also feature in our daily specials, like the recent Burrata with tomato carpaccio, pickled beetroot & hazelnuts. Dee-licious!

Jonathan has also just been nominated in the Manchester Food & Drink Awards (go vote for him!) for his home cheese deliveries during lockdown, something he plans to do much more of in the future… That’s after he’s finished telling us his cheese jokes and generally talking too much. We love you Cheese Man!

Check out Jonathan’s cheese on the menu.