Inspirational Cheese Retailers: Metz Cheesemonger, Farsley

Metz Cheesemonger
Location: Farsley
Founder: Emmanuelle Metz
Founded: 2024

A Parisian native, Metz Cheesemonger founder, Emmanuelle Metz, says she has an ingrained, innate love for good food, and (more importantly) sharing good food.

This epicurious nature, and her fascination around the quality and provenance of ingredients, is what drove Emmanuelle last year to take the leap, opening her own shop, where she adores pushing boundaries, experimenting, and bringing immense joy to customers with cheeses they, quite simply, cannot find anywhere else.

It was a career running her own photography studio, specialising in food, that prompted the entrepreneur to delve further into the cheese world. And having spent time working for a large cheesemaker in France, and later (five years ago) for a cheesemonger in Leeds upon moving to the UK, she says she felt a sense of longing to run her own business again.

Emmanuelle adds she couldn’t have found a better location than the buzzy Sunny Bank Mills complex in Farsley, just outside Leeds. “It’s a village within a village,” she explains. “It reminds me of the East side of Paris, with artisan breweries and artists. It’s so vibrant.” Renowned for being a part of the area’s historic fabric industry, she adds, “It’s like the stones have been soaking up the energy.”

A local champion

You’d think, having Gallic roots, Emmanuelle would dedicate much of her counter to French cheeses. But supporting local and being in tune with the farmers and producers around her, gives her a sense of purpose and meaning. “There is so much to say about cheese in the North,” she explains. “So my first point when I was setting up the shop was to keep it local. I want to support artisan cheese.” French consumers, she adds, “have no idea about the range of cheeses made here”. 

Buying from makers who share her passion for ‘slow food’ gives Emmanuelle so much satisfaction. “I’m against having any type of cheese that is mass produced. Having a knowledge of what good food is is so important. I want to share with people that buying a block of Red Leicester from the supermarket won’t make you happy. But buying a local, artisan variety will feed you more.”

Cheese with a twist

A standout feature of Metz Cheesemonger is that several cheeses have been matured by Emmanuelle herself. Winning a prize in last year’s Affineur of the Year awards has only fuelled her desire to pursue the art of affinage further. Creating ‘signature’ cheeses is part and parcel of cheesemongery in France, and it’s something she felt very strongly should feature in the shop. She’s been making cheeses injected with local gin, washing cheeses with Yorkshire whisky, and even partnered recently with a chocolatier to cap cheese thinly with dark chocolate. “It’s such a nice thing for me – exploring, and pushing the limits,” Emmanuelle says.

A shop of surprises

Experience comes first at Metz Cheesemonger. Whoever walks through the door is treated like family, and this sentiment has garnered Emmanuelle a league of fans, from older shoppers living alone who want to sample 50g of cheese and have a chat, to teenagers popping in for a snack.

Being approachable and “breaking the fear” of visiting an independent cheese shop, is crucial too. “There is something more human,” about visiting a specialist retailer compared to a supermarket. “People care about the customers, and they can feel that.”

As well as great service, Emmanuelle says the fact no two visits to the shop are the same intrigues customers, who pop in regularly to see what she’s been up to. “I’m changing the range quite a lot. I want to surprise people. None of them can say, ‘oh, I’ve tried all your cheeses’, yet. We always have something new and that’s important to me. I want to spark joy. That’s the main thing in life. I want people to be happy and surprised. Life is hard, so it’s nice to be able to bring a tiny bit of joy through food.

“We’re like a huge family. I like having people around the table at home, enjoying food, and it’s exactly the same when I sell cheese to customers.”