Cheesemaker to defy EU

Richard Landy, of Stilton, has been fighting for a number of years for permission to name the cheese that he makes after the Cambridgeshire village.

And after Britain voted to leave the EU last Friday, Mr Landy has decided that enough is enough.

He said: “In light of the EU referendum, I’m going to call my cheese, when it’s made, Stilton Cheese.

“I will challenge the Stilton Cheese makers to prove that Stilton Cheese did not originate in Stilton.”

Currently, Stilton Cheese has Protected Designation of Origin status and can only be produced in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

But historian Mr Landy is adamant that Stilton Cheese was first made in Stilton, and he has decided that a Christmas Market in mid-November is the time to unveil his new produce.

Mr Landy said his initial batch will be a white cheese, using herbs instead of fruit, but that down the line he will look at producing a blue cheese as well.

Permission was granted three years ago by Cambridgeshire County Council’s Trading Standards department to label cheese made in Stilton as Stilton’s Cheese, which Mr Landy has done, as it was decided that this did not breach EU legislation.