Find us in-store, across Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and London. Visit us to chat to our cheesemongers for tailored recommendations, and to browse our shelves to discover our wide range.
90's
Before opening his first shop, partner and founder Iain Mellis had worked in the British cheese industry for almost 15 years. For some time he had felt that there was a lack of opportunity to buy high quality farmhouse cheese, both in the retail and wholesale sector.
After much investigation and consultation in the UK and Europe, Iain decided upon a retail philosophy. He wanted a traditional, old fashioned sense of service and style whilst using modern technology to maintain and enhance the unique characteristics of artisan cheese. One of the most important aspects of Iain's thinking was flavour. Farmhouse cheese differs from mass-produced factory cheese because the milk comes from a single herd rather than several different sources.
00's
Word spread, and the shops multiplied — Glasgow's West End opened in 1995 after much demand from the west of Scotland, the Stockbridge flagship in 2002, and St Andrews after that.
The maturing rooms in Edinburgh let us ripen what needs ripening on our own terms, and the Mellis own-brand oatcake launched — still made to the same recipe today. Throughout, the philosophy stayed the same: single-herd farmhouse cheese, cut to order, wrapped in waxed paper.
Current
The maturing rooms in Leith took over the ripening, and in November 2025 the family opened its first shop outside Scotland — a 150-year-old former butcher’s in Crouch End, London, run by Mellis son Cameron.
Today the online shop ships nationwide, cut and wrapped the day it leaves us. The business is still family-run, still buying from small producers we know by name, still cutting every wedge to order. Three decades on, nothing important has changed.