Inspirational Cheese Retailers 2025: Crosby Cheese & Charcuterie, Crosby

Crosby Cheese & Charcuterie
Location: Crosby
Founder: Lee Zeverona
Founded: 2021

Crosby Cheese & Charcuterie founder, Lee Zeverona, has dreamt of cheese his whole life. While his friends made a beeline to supermarket sweetie aisles in the mid-80s and early 90s, instead he says he was drawn to the cheese selection. “I was always on the lookout for different, strange ones – something a bit different. I always wanted to try them,” he smiles.

Lee’s 20-year career carved out in financial consultancy couldn’t be further from his childhood aspirations, but they were finally realised during the Covid period when the cheese lover realised he had to get moving to make his dreams a reality, once and for all.

A vision in cheese

“What I wanted to create had to be a small local shop, serving the local community,” Lee says of his vision for the business. “I just felt like I had to provide cheeses for this community, who hadn’t really had access to speciality cheeses before. I could get people here eating more cheese, discovering and learning about different cheeses and gaining more knowledge, rather than going to a supermarket to buy something more generic. It all comes from my love of cheese.”

Between 80 and 90 varieties sit in the counter. “It can be a little overwhelming, seeing that many cheeses as soon as you come in, but if you’re unsure, you can try before you buy,” Lee says. “And we’ve always got a good stock of charcuterie items, condiments, crackers, wines and beers.”

Supporting British factors highly here, with 60% of cheeses from the UK – the other 40% being continental ‘must-haves’ everyone expects to see when they walk into a cheesemongers.

Lee notes he’s getting asked more and more for sheep’s and goats’ milk cheeses. “A lot more people are saying they’re intolerant to cow’s milk and they want an alternative, so I’m making sure we listen and stock more of those. And Alpine cheeses is an area I try to push as well – they’re some of my favourites.”

Being unique in his area, Lee says listening to customers, and reflecting what they like and what they need in the counter has stood the shop in good stead, particularly amongst Millennials, who are regular customers here. “We have lots of married couples with children, living in the local area. They might not get out much, and they’re looking for a nice cheeseboard and a nice bottle of wine. As opposed to going to a supermarket, they are coming into the shop. That’s our biggest demographic.”

Doing what it takes

To be a great indie cheesemonger, you simply have to know what you’re talking about, says Lee. “It’s about giving people the information about the cheeses. If that information isn’t available, they’re not going to try something new.”

Speaking of new, rotating the counter regularly factors in as well. “We get asked for new cheeses all the time and we’re always swapping them out. But we can tell customers all about the new cheeses, how and where they’re made. We can’t stock all the cheeses in the world, but if people come in wanting something specific, we’ll do our best to get it in for them.”

Lee says his knowledge since opening has grown tenfold. “As well as educating our customers, I’m still learning all the time. It’s my priority to know as much as I can about all our cheeses to offer the best possible service.”