Fromage and friendship: South Liverpool cheese shop relaunches sell-out wine events

Customers go to sample cheese and taste wine – but it’s often friendship they get to enjoy too.

The Cheese Cellar has relaunched its sell-out cheese and wine evenings only two months after moving from its Garston base to a new home in Allerton Road.

And, with the first already full, co-owner Michelle Hunt is hoping they’re going to be as popular as ever, with pairings not just restricted to the food and drinks they serve.

She said:

“The cheese and wine evenings give you the chance to taste the cheese on the counter while sitting down with a glass of wine in a social situation. And they’re always a sell-out.

“We started with one a month and increased it to two because the demand was there (we might even need to consider more!).

“It’s just a nice, informal evening with jazz music playing in the background but not too loudly to stifle the conversation.”

Michelle adds:

“We often found that people on one table would start talking to the next, and so on, becoming a social gathering where customers became friends.

“We’re hoping the same will happen here.”

The Cheese Cellar first opened two years ago after beginning as a brainwave by best pals Michelle and Lynne Hunt.

A huge diversion from their original careers – Michelle, 53, worked for a heart charity in Preston and Lynne, 52, was a civil servant – they came up with the idea during Covid and lockdown.

“We were just thinking one night, with everywhere closed, how it would be nice to have cheese and a glass of wine, or a charcuterie board, so we started making them and it all came from there.

“We got a trailer in Sefton Park and started selling them from there and, when the shop came up in St Mary’s Road, it had a lovely feel about it, so we thought, why not?

“We threw ourselves into it.”

Selling around 80 cheeses and operating as a wine bar and deli, the business became a huge success with regulars, and the events more popular still.

“We loved that shop. And it was the perfect place for us to cut our teeth on.

“We had a regular clientele with many becoming friends of ours; we got to know people’s names – and even the dogs who brought them in,” she smiles.

“But while we were busy at weekends and for the events, the footfall just wasn’t enough during the week, and it came to a point where it was move or see the business fail. We either went somewhere else or walked away.

“The Allerton Road shop opened up and so we came here.

“We’ve had a flying start and lots of lovely feedback from locals who’ve popped in. So, yes, it’s been a busy few weeks but a good start.”

Michelle and Lynne have organised a series of cheese and wine evenings from now until towards the end of the year. 

The evenings are held on Thursdays from 7pm and are £36 per person which gives you five cheeses paired with five wines or, sometimes, a whisky or a cask ale.

“We have themes, whether that’s Italian or French cheeses or cheese by female makers, and then we choose wines – or a drink – that go with them. 

Michelle said:

“We take people through with a briefing and give them sheets with info on, and they can always talk to us if they want to know more. If you love cheese, it’s a great night and we just want people to enjoy it. It’s very relaxed.

“People often come back which is why it sells out.”

And it’s not surprising when the hosts are as passionate about the cheese and wine evenings as those who pay to be there: “To be honest, we love it as much as they do.”

Find out more about the cheese and wine evenings and to book tickets here.

Find more events across Liverpool on our calendar.

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