The owner of Grate – one of only two cheesemongers in Newcastle – says she has been overwhelmed by local support now that she has finally be able to open the doors of her shop on Jesmond Road.

Grate was supposed to open on the May bank holiday weekend but – as with many things this year – that opening had to be postponed. However, six months later, owner Moz Murphy says locals are thankful for the return of a cheesemonger in Jesmond.

“There used to be a cheese shop on Acorn Road and so many people have told me how much of a miss it was when it closed 20 years ago,” said Murphy. “I’m still in shock as to how well the opening has gone. The last eight weeks have been incredibly busy.”

Takeaway food has been a source of comfort for residents during the current Tier 3 restrictions in the north east, and Murphy said she believes people are “happy to shop local. People want to treat themselves. I pride myself on sourcing British and local producers as much as possible. They’ve had a really terrible time in lockdown, with gallons and gallons of milk being poured away as there’s no market for the cheese”

Murphy has spent her whole career working in cheese and food retail, including a spell with Fortnum and Mason in London as well as several independent shops. She said she values local custom. “It’s important to get the local people in, especially somewhere as community-driven as Jesmond. I tried to meet lots of residents before I opened so I could tell them what I was trying to do,” she said. “It’s important when you’re running a small business to have a backbone of regular customers, who will always be drawn from the neighbourhood.”

The other cheese shop in Newcastle is Matthews Cheese Specialists in Grainger Market. “It’s been going donkey years and everybody knows it, but they have restricted opening hours,” said Murphy. “The only other place is Fenwick’s food hall, but they’re big and corporate, not the neighbourhood kind of shop.”

According to Murphy, the most popular cheese among people buying Christmas gifts is the Vacherin Mont D’Or, made in the Alpine region of France. “They only make it for 12 weeks of the year because the cows must eat the right amount of clover and grass at the right altitude, before they bring the cows down from the mountains to milk,” said Murphy.

Murphy said she likes to meet the producers of her cheese, or at least meet the people she buys it from. “People now care more than ever about what they put into their bodies. They want to know that what they eat is reputable and well sourced. They want to know that the animals were well treated, which all stems back to the horsemeat scandal in 2013.”

Having quit her job in December 2019, Murphy has waited a year to make her dream a reality. “It was a case of now or never. If I don’t open for Christmas then I won’t make any money,” she said. “Each day I wasn’t working, I was eating into my savings.” However, she describes the venture as “more of a passion project”.

“If I make money out of this, brilliant. If I make a bit of a living, fine. If I can afford a holiday once a year, golden. All I want to do is sell people cheese.

“I’m really grateful to everyone who has supported the shop and long may it continue. I feel like I’ve been made a welcome part of the Jesmond community.”