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Scotland’s artisan cheese producers are experiencing an unexpected boost - thanks to the double whammy of Brexit and the Coronavirus lockdown.

Cheese makers across the country have developed new Scottish cheeses during the past year, and have found new local markets to sell them to despite the devastating temporary closure of their main outlets in the hospitality industry. Online sales, home delivery boxes, farmers’ markets and independent shops have helped maintain and even increase sales.

Demand for Scottish cheese has increased by up to 40% in the last year in what one major food supplier describes as a “lockdown cheese cult”.

Now producers are set to benefit from the increased local demand as imported Continental cheeses start to cost more, and become subject to delay, due to Brexit red tape.

Making Mozzarella has helped keep Yester Farm in East Lothian going despite an 80% drop in supply to hotels and restauran due to lockdown. “Pizza deliveries across the UK have mushroomed and demand for our Scottish mozzarella has been phenomenal as a result,” said director Jackie McCreery, who adds that being forced to pivot the business online has changed the way they operate for the better. “Going online has been brilliant for connecting us directly to our customers and it lets us see what items are more popular. It has compensated hugely for the loss of foodservice.”

Home delivery cheese boxes have also taken off.

“We have seen phenomenal interest in our home delivery cheese boxes, and we’ve gone from 30 a week up to 300,” said Wilma Finlay of the Ethical Dairy in Dumfriesshire, whose new Stilton-type cheese Barlocco Blue was added to the range during lockdown, along with a range of three new “Skinny” hard cheeses using foremilk from the farm’s own herd of cows.

Selina Cairns (pictured, left, at Partick Farmers’ Market in Glasgow) of Errington Cheese in Lanarkshire has launched Corrington Linn, a new blend of goat and sheep cheese alongside a wider range goat cheese logs. “We’re making more cheese now than before lockdown. We got creative with new ideas mainly out of desperation because you can’t turn the milk off even if the usual markets are closed,” she said. Her new stall at the Partick Farmers Market in Glasgow was queued out at her first appearance recently and she sold much more than she expected.

“You can’t just tell the cows to stop making milk,” agrees Ann Dorward of the Dunlop Dairy in Ayrshire. “When the cows are ready, they’re ready.”

She has been busy with home delivery boxes while developing a top-secret new cheese which could be sold exclusively at the Cheese Club Shop, a new pop-up outlet in Glasgow’s West End. It is the first high street outlet from the Six By Nico restaurant chain, launched specifically to support the beleaguered dairy industry while hospitality remains largely closed in Scotland. It will sell new Scottish cheeses alongside Hebridean Blue by Brendan Reade at Isle of Mull Cheese and Fat Cow from Rory Stone at Highland Fine Cheese among other better-known Scottish and English cheeses.

“We want to support the artisan cheese industry here in Scotland and across the UK, because it has really struggled during lockdown, and with fewer cheeses expected to be coming from the Continent it’s the perfect time to do it,” said Stephen Sweet (right), manager of the Cheese Club Shop. Sweet, 35, previously worked with local cheesemonger George Mewes.

The idea for the Cheese Club Shop developed during lockdown when the Six by Nico Home-X meal box delivery scheme revealed a strong demand for the cheese course. The monthly Cheese Club box was launched as a result, with Sweet handling around 500 each month from the company base in Glasgow. When customer feedback showed that people were keeping the cheese as a separate meal, and wanted more information about provenance, owner Nico Simeone invited Sweet to run a shop and expand the offer as more local products come into season.

“The at-home cheese experience has really taken off during lockdown and we wanted to continue and develop it,” said Sweet. “It’s about educating a whole new generation about local cheese, who makes it and how it’s made. They want to buy local. Talking to customers in the shop can only help spread the word.”

As hotels, restaurants, cafes and pubs start to re-open at the end of the month demand will probably increase, while post-Brexit UK border checks on EU imports - now delayed until January 2022, instead of April to July this year - could hinder supply of Continental cheeses.

But prices for imported cheese are already rising due to Brexit. On April 1, Scottish importer Allan Currie of Clarks Speciality Foods in Penicuik was informed that a further 4% would be imposed on French cheese coming into Scotland on top of the extra £80 per consignment already being paid since January – equivalent to an extra £25,000 a year.

“This is due to export paperwork and other red tape on the EU side,” he said. “Importers on UK side also have extra paperwork which costs money and can cause delays.

“At the same time, demand for Scottish cheese is up by 40% from small to large outlets in wee villages and towns right across the country. It’s like a lockdown cheese cult has developed.”

Many Scottish and British cheeses are arguably similar to those from the Continent.

“When people talk about artisan cheese they tend to think about French or Italian cheeses rather than Scottish or British. But so many UK cheeses have their origins in French or equivalent types,” says Sweet. He cites Ashcombe, a new Morbier-type cheese by David Jowett of King Stone cheese in the Cotswolds, and St Helena, a new Rebluchon/Tomme by Julie Cheyney of St Jude Cheese in Suffolk, and Lincolnshire Poacher Double Barrel, a Cheddar/Gruyere by Simon Jones at Ulceby Cross, as recent English examples also join the Scottish cheeses at his Glasgow pop-up.

“These are great examples of how we can help galvanise the dairy industry in Scotland and England which has really struggled over the last year,” he added.

ENDS