Kappacasein, Bermondsey dairy making cheese in hundred-year-old vat under railway arch, gets Urban Food Awards nomination

Bill Oglethorpe is one of only a few Londoners making cheese in the capital, creating Gruyère, halloumi and ricotta in a 100-year-old vat under the railway arches in Bermondsey.

His cheese has become renowned on the London food scene, used to make everything from ricotta ice cream at Shoreditch restaurant Lyle’s to Mr Oglethorpe’s own £6 toasties.

Now his firm, Kappacasein, has been nominated in the Big Smoke’s Big Cheese Category at the Urban Food Awards. Supported by the Mayor of London and the Standard, the inaugural awards aim to celebrate the capital’s best food and drink producers.

Mr Oglethorpe, 52, was born in Zambia and moved to London in 1986. He started Kappacasein seven years ago, using milk produced at a social enterprise farm in Edenbridge, Kent.

But he nearly missed out on his first big chance — by going to the wrong branch of Neal’s Yard for an interview. He said: “ I went to the bakery — and so missed my interview. Eventually they gave me a job in the cheese shop and I worked there for 14 years.”

Standard readers can submit their top picks in six categories before August 20. A panel including the Standard’s food critic Fay Maschler will create a shortlist, with the winners revealed in September. Special guest Boris Johnson will judge the cheese category.

Make a nomination at londonfoodlink.org.