British cheesemakers, mapped
There is no official list of the UK's cheeses, so we made one. We mapped every cheesemaker we could verify and every named cheese each one makes today, and checked each against a current source: 760 cheeses from 154 makers.
On this pageMapFindingsWhat countsHow we checked
Key findings
- We traced 760 named cheeses to 154 cheesemakers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, checking every one against a current source.
- The South West has the most cheesemakers, 39, and the most named cheeses, 219. The South East is next, with 20 makers and 113 cheeses.
- White Lake Cheese in Somerset makes the most named cheeses, 24, followed by High Weald Dairy in West Sussex with 23. At the other end, 33 makers make a single named cheese.
- England has 119 of the makers and 639 of the cheeses. Scotland has 59 cheeses, Wales 52 and Northern Ireland 10.
Where the UK's named cheeses are made
Each marker is one of the 154 cheesemakers we could verify. Filled markers: we confirmed at least one of the maker's cheeses on its own website. Open markers: confirmed from a retailer, the cheese awards results or the press. Hover over a marker for its cheeses, or select it for the full list.
All 154 makers
Made in England graphic. Checked 10 November 2026. Markers show the village or town where the cheese is made, not a street address. Boundaries: Office for National Statistics.
How we built the list
There is no official list of the UK's cheeses, so we built one from the bottom up: every cheesemaker we could identify, and every named cheese each one makes today.
We found 760 from 154 makers. A cheese is only on the list if we could tie it to a maker and to a current source, so the count is a minimum. Around 300 other dairy premises on the official registers and at Companies House could not be tied to a named cheese. Most are very small, dormant or have no public trace.
A few makers account for many of the names
The ten makers with the most named cheeses make 174 of the 760 between them, almost one in four. White Lake Cheese, High Weald Dairy, Greenfields Dairy and Cheesemakers of Canterbury each make 19 or more. Most makers have a handful, and 33 make just one.
What counts as a named cheese
There is no agreed definition of a named cheese, so we set our own and applied it to every maker. A cheese counts if the maker makes it today and sells it under a name that identifies it. That includes a maker's own version of a traditional cheese, such as Colston Bassett Stilton or Wyke Farms Cheddar. It also includes flavoured and smoked versions, but only when they are sold as separate products under their own names. 132 of the 760 are flavoured or smoked versions of this kind. Without them, the count would be 628.
A cheese counts once whatever its age, so mild, mature and vintage are one cheese. A cheese made for a supermarket counts once, under the dairy that makes it. We left out bare type names with nothing to identify them, such as soft cheese, curd or halloumi; cheeses a business buys in and only sells, matures or flavours; and anything we could not find a current source for. Businesses that buy in finished cheese and add flavourings are not counted as cheesemakers.
How we checked
We started from the food approvals registers for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Specialist Cheesemakers Association directory, Companies House records for cheese manufacturing and the 2025 and 2026 British and Irish Cheese Awards results. We then checked every maker one by one: whether it is still trading, where its cheese is made and which named cheeses it makes now. Every cheese on the list has a source: the maker's own website or shop, a retailer listing, the awards results or recent press.
22 makers from our earlier list are not shown, because we found no evidence they were trading in 2025 or 2026 or because none of their cheeses met the rule. Some may still be making cheese. The Isle of Man is not included.
If you make cheese and are not here, or one of your cheeses is missing or wrong, tell us and we will correct the page: hello@madeinengland.com
Sources: food approvals registers (Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland and the Northern Ireland register), the Specialist Cheesemakers Association directory, Companies House, British and Irish Cheese Awards results 2025 and 2026, makers' own websites and retailer listings. Map boundaries: Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Related research
Suggested citation
Made in England Research, British cheesemakers, mapped. Checked 10 November 2026.