‘There’s a cheese for everyone’

If you ever saw the passion with which Rosie Morgan talked about coffee while she was working as a barista at Full Court Press, imagine that magnified tenfold when she starts talking about cheese.

See that passion for yourself when Rosie opens her first permanent shop, The Bristol Cheesemonger on St Nicholas Street at the beginning of June following the tremendous success of a pop-up shop in the same space last Christmas.

“That gave me the incentive of continuing here in the long-term,” Rosie says during a break from putting the finishing touches to the shop. “The support I received was so humbling. I got a really good feeling that I should definitely crack on with this.”

The shop will stock up to 100 varieties of cheese, the majority from the West Country and all from the UK. Rosie hopes to keep the room at an ambient temperature so all the cheeses can be racked and displayed as whole cheeses.

There will also be a small selection of local produce including baked goods from Farro bakery, chutneys and the like from Bishopston Supper Club‘s Danielle Coombs, wine from More, and beer from Moor.

Special events in the next few months could see raclette and fondue nights.

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The permanent shop is the culmination of a long journey for Rosie, who first started working with cheese as a Saturday girl in her native Devon when she was just 15. After two years in London working in arts marketing, she moved to Bristol, finding work in Boston Tea Party on Park Street and then Full Court Press.

But her passion for cheese remained, and her first appearance as The Bristol Cheesemonger saw her set up shop behind a small table in one corner of Hart’s Bakery one Saturday a month, before spreading her wings to the Tobacco Factory Sunday market.

“People in Bristol really get behind local independent businesses,” Rosie says. “Whether that’s the local restaurants, cafes or suppliers. I have never noticed that so much in any other city. There’s so much loyalty and support, and I’m proud to be a part of that.

“I hope that this shop becomes somewhere as well respected as some of my favourite places. Somewhere that people really associate with a high quality local product, delivered with a really professional standard of service. I want there to be really good conversations about cheese, and really good conversations about food.”

Living in Montpelier, Rosie does most of her food shopping on Gloucester Road, with some more specialist items bought in Source, which she promises to point future customers to if they want a continental cheese that she doesn’t stock.

Even before the first coat of paint on the shop, she has got a number of regular customers and provides cheese to Bristol favourites such as Small Street Espresso, Bell’s Diner, Small Bar and No. 12 Easton. 

It will now be her mission to share her passion with the people of Bristol: “Whether it’s someone who loves the lightest, mildest, delicate cheese, or a cheese that blows your head off, I like to think there’s a cheese for everyone. And I love a challenge.”

Photo by Jelena Belec

Read more: Pop-up Christmas cheese shop opens

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