'It's been painful'- Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses reflect on devastating fire which led to the King's visit

King Charles III visited independent family cheesemakers Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses yesterday to officially open their new cheese campus, inclusive of a new maturation shed.

This major, generational investment brings all of the Lancashire cheesemaker's production back to their Goosnargh farm, marking a powerful moment of recovery after a major loss two-years ago.

In November 2023, a devastating fire at Butlers’ Longridge office and packing site saw them lose hundreds of tonnes of cheese stock just six weeks before Christmas.

Replacing that site, the new facility in Inglewhite houses modern maturation, packing, and production under one roof to nurture cheeses from farm to finished product.

Explaining what it means to have got to the point where they could open the campus, third generation owner Gillian Hall told the Post: “It's been painful. I can't pretend it hasn't. Probably the hardest thing in my 37 years here has been the fire and to get to this stage, which is a platform - it isn't a recovery at this stage- but we have now given ourselves the opportunity to rebuild our business by having this new maturation shed where everything now can stay on the farm so we can make the cheese and mature it and pack it here on the farm.”

Since the fire, the fourth-generation family cheesemakers have rebuilt while continuing operations from their rural Goosnargh dairy, supporting their people, maintaining milk supply and supplying customers across the UK with British hard, blue and soft farmhouse cheeses.

Matthew Hall, fourth generation owner said: “It was a fairly immediate and fairly devastating blow to the business. We lost the entire operation overnight, but within hours, we were back turning milk to cheese. The cows are producing milk. Our farmers need somewhere for that milk to go, and it was never a question, but to keep taking that milk and finding a solution for it. So there's something that's quite therapeutic and cathartic, almost, about working with your hands and being able to turn that milk into cheese. And slowly but surely, we've been trying to work with our customers to rebuild our cheese stocks and to get that cheese back onto the tables.”

Gill added: “As Matthew said, it's therapeutic to actually make the cheese, but where I got my energy in those desperately difficult first days and weeks, and I would say, for the full first year, was from the people who supported us and held us up. So it was the staff, it was the community.”

That community which helped support Butlers Farmhouses Cheese had a part to play in the King’s visit too.

As well as meeting three generations of the family and trying their famous cheese, the King was introduced to local suppliers from James Hall & Co and J Wareing & Son who helped build the new campus following the fire.

The King then concluded his tour by unveiling a commemorative plaque in front of a select group of invited guests, including farmers, partners, suppliers, customers and staff who were integral to the post-fire rebuild.

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Asked what it means to be able to introduce the King to the community, Gill said: “It's a boost for us because they've shown such resilience. I don't think, if you haven't been through this, you can actually ever comprehend the pain. But of course, the King has been through it with the Windsor Castle fire, and so he does understand, and I think that's why he has chosen to come and support our journey, because he knows how painful and difficult this is for all of us.

“And without the community supporting us and being here, not just in the normal daytime, but in the nights, we had to build through the nights and through the weekends, we had Christmas day off, and that was it, and the weather was atrocious, and yet people kept going for us. We had nothing but support from our community, and they went above and beyond, and that we will endeavor to pay forward, as we always have done because we're part of the fabric of this small community, and we have always supported it, and in our hour of need, they were there to support us, and we will continue going forward to pay that forward.”

Whilst the new campus means Butlers Farmhouses Cheeses now ocuppies one of the most advanced farmhouse cheesemaking operations of its kind in the UK, it will also give back to the community that surrounds it.

The family firm confirmed that the campus will unlock opportunities for skills development, training and careers across cheesemaking, operations and specialist roles such as data science and AI.

Issuing a final message for the people of Lancashire, Gill added: “We're very grateful for the support that we've already had, but I think we have built this platform, and we now do need people to buy the cheese to recover this business to what it was in 2023, when we were wiped out. So there's quite a long way to go. And please, please eat, please eat British cheese, and please eat local. Please eat local Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses cheese wherever you can!”