Cheese at Borough Market

The Cheese Stalls

The market's cheese traders are spread across its three areas. Three Crown Square holds the bigger producers and merchants, the Green Market the small specialists, and Borough Market Kitchen the street food. These are the stalls the market lists for cheese:

• Neal's Yard Dairy, 8 Park Street: British farmhouse cheese, turned, brushed and washed in the company's railway arches in Bermondsey. The shop opens Monday to Friday 9 to 5, Saturday 8 to 5 and Sunday 10 to 5, so it trades on Mondays when the market itself is shut.
• Mons Cheesemongers, Three Crown Square: French and Swiss cheese chosen by the affineur Hervé Mons.
• Trethowan Brothers, Three Crown Square: raw milk cheeses from a collective of small-batch British makers.
• Borough Cheese Company, Three Crown Square: big wheels of Comté matured in the Fort Saint Antoine.
• Bath Soft Cheese Co, 9 Stoney Street: cheeses from Park Farm in Somerset, run by the same family for four generations.
• Alsop & Walker, 9 Stoney Street: cow's milk cheeses from East Sussex.
• Blackwoods Cheese Company, Three Crown Square: soft raw milk cheeses from Kent.
• Jumi Cheese, Three Crown Square: cheese from four family dairies in the Emmental.
• Une Normande à Londres, Three Crown Square: Normandy cheese and charcuterie.
• L'Ubriaco Drunk Cheese, Green Market: Italian cheeses soaked in wine and beer.
• Hook & Son, Three Crown Square: raw milk and dairy from a small organic farm on the Pevensey Levels.

Cheese to Eat on the Spot

Kappacasein at 1 Stoney Street is the stall people queue for. Its raclette is scraped over new potatoes with gherkins and pickled onions, and the toastie combines Montgomery's Cheddar, Ogleshield, raclette and Comté with onions and leeks on sourdough. Owner Bill Oglethorpe makes the raclette himself in Bermondsey. The stall trades Thursday and Friday 10 to 5 and Saturday 9 to 5. In Borough Market Kitchen, The Bath Dairy serves tartiflette and baked cheeses from Park Farm.

Tours

The market names two official tours. Celia Brooks runs a tasting tour on selected Friday mornings from 10am to 1pm, with cheese among the stops, and private tours on weekdays; booking is essential. Totally Tailored runs a private two and a half hour behind-the-scenes tour with tastings from traders, cheese included, that ends with English sparkling wine in a wine warehouse. Both are booked through the guides' own websites.

Getting There and Practical Tips

The market is right beside London Bridge station (Jubilee and Northern lines and National Rail), with bike racks inside and buses stopping within five minutes' walk. There is no market car park. The public areas are on one level, though some surfaces are cobbled and passageways narrow to 1.5 metres. Accessible toilets are in four places during trading hours. Saturday afternoons are the busiest time; a weekday morning is calmer for tasting at the counters. Hours change around Christmas and bank holidays.

Nearby

Neal's Yard Dairy's Bermondsey arches open on Saturday mornings, and Mons has an arch there too. For more of the city, see London's best cheese shops, cheese tastings in London and the monthly Chiswick Cheese Market.