George & Joseph: "After 20 years in IT I gave it all up to become a cheesemonger," says founder Stephen Fleming
Proud Yorkshire cheesemonger Stephen Fleming discovered a love of cheese from being a child when his parents used to put it on the table at breakfast time. Over the years his love has grown and the father-of-four radically changed his career from IT to selling cheese in his very own shop.
George & Joseph Cheesemongers in Chapel Allerton has been proudly championing Yorkshire producers since opening in 2013, and stocks a wide range of artisan cheeses from across the region and beyond.
Stephen's journey began when he became a member of a cheese club in Leeds after moving to the city.
The club, charmingly named Homage2Fromage, inspired Stephen to take his love of cheese to a new level and he started selling it on market stalls on the side.
He recalls working on a market stall in a Co-op car park and getting a huge buzz out of the delight on customers' faces.
"It was visceral - seeing people's faces light up tasting cheese and then going through the transaction of buying something delicious,” says Stephen.
"I still love that feeling. This inspired the mission for the business to inspire a million love affairs with cheese, bringing people together over an amazing cheese board for good times."
Stephen's background could not have been more different.
"I studied Software Engineering at university and went on to have a 20 year career in corporate IT culminating as IT director for a top 100 law firm.
"After 20 years in IT I was left feeling unfulfilled and wanting to do something different – I’ve always loved cheese from being a child and felt drawn to working in food."
Stephen, 55, opened his own shop in Chapel Allerton in 2013, naming it George and Joseph after the middle names of his two eldest sons Patrick and Rory.
Four years later he moved premises to a more prominent shop on the high street.
"In 2017 we moved to a larger shop on Harrogate Road in Chapel Allerton, high street location, next to a fishmongers, a butchers and a greengrocers.
"Turnover doubled as a result and I moved into working in the cheese business full time."
Stephen says he loves his job and finds working with cheeses from all over the UK hugely rewarding.
He says: "We get to discover and champion amazing artisan produced cheeses from all over the UK. It’s a privilege to sell these cheeses and to help support the people who make them.
"I love speaking about cheese, and I get to spend a lot of my time now hosting tasting events, speaking and teaching people about cheese.
"I’m an experienced cheese judge and a certified trainer for the Academy of Cheese.
Working in the shop, Stephen gets to see lots of regular, friendly faces.
“Our customers in Chapel Allerton are fiercely loyal to us and all the local independent shops in the area. There’s an amazingly supportive business community too and we all work and collaborate together,” he says.
"When I started the focus was just on Yorkshire produced cheeses. I spent a lot of time driving around Yorkshire and meeting cheesemakers and discovering their cheeses.
"Today we still carry the best cheeses that are made in Yorkshire, alongside a wider range of the best UK artisan cheeses.
"We've worked with cheese maker Mario Olianas who started making cheese in Adel around the same time as I started my cheesemonger business.
"A lot of my time these days is spent visiting cheesemakers all over the UK and building deeper relationships with them."
Being a cheesemonger and having his own shop isn't without its own challenges.
Stephen says: "Covid and lockdown presented a huge challenge for us at first, but we were able to quickly adapt the business to offer online ordering and delivery, as well as keeping the shop open.
"At the peak we had three drivers delivering over 100 orders a day locally, we were hosting lots of virtual cheese tasting events and keeping the shop open and trading.
Post-Covid, the cost of living and energy price rises have been challenging – the costs of the cheeses we buy have increased and at the same time our customers have less disposable income.
"However we’ve found that people still want to have a treat and cheese often fits the bill".
Christmas is a very busy time for Stephen, who also has eight-year-old twins, Evelyn and Rufus with wife Jane, and he relies on the support of his team. He recalls being so exhausted through sheer hard work at Christmas that he once fell asleep at the dinner table eating his dinner on Christmas Eve.
"I have built a fantastic team of cheesemongers who work in the shop and put together our online and wholesale orders.
"My wife Jane doesn’t work in the business, but has been a huge inspiration and support to me with it over the years.
"Christmas is coming, it’s always our busiest time of year. We’ve been blown away by the demand for our cheese advent calendars this year.”
Stephen’s Cheese advents calendar includes 24 British artisan cheeses each with tasting notes, pairing ideas, and a little festive flair, making a nice change from chocolate in the run up to Christmas.
George & Joseph Christmas cheese gift boxes also promise to deliver seasonal joy, 'one slice at a time.'
"Our Christmas pre-orders are open on our website until December 7.
"We always get huge queues during Christmas week, so customers that pre-order can beat the queues and collect their order from us or we can deliver.
"We’re lining up an exciting list of cheese makers to come and visit our shop on Fridays and Saturdays in December, in the run up to Christmas – this will be a great opportunity for our customers to meet the people who make some of the cheeses we sell.
"We’ve also got a late night Christmas shopping event on December 4 in Chapel Allerton – all the other independent shops are taking part."
George and Joseph has also won a number of awards and accolades - In 2018 they were awarded Best Specialty Cheese Retailer at the Great British Cheese Awards, in 2023 they were awarded Best Retailer (North East) at the Farm Shop & Deli Awards and also in 2023 they were awarded People’s Choice, Affineur of the Year.
Stephen's tips for serving cheese and creating a perfect cheese board this Christmas:
Always get your cheese out of the fridge about half an hour before you want to eat it – if it’s too cold then you won’t get the full flavours and aromas from the cheese.
Don’t go for too many cheeses – go for three, four or five cheeses that are different styles, textures and flavours.
Pair them up with nuts, fruit and honey. Don’t be afraid to experiment. At Christmas, I love to pair Yoredale Wensleydale with Christmas cake. Also – pop a little blue cheese inside your mince pies – it’s a game changer.
If you have any leftovers after Christmas then don’t throw them away. Use them in sauces, make cheese toasties with them. I love to make up a big mac and cheese with leftover cheese.