Stilton maker Tuxford & Tebbett under the hammer in UK

Britain’s oldest Stilton cheese maker will reach the end of the road after two and a half centuries when the Melton Mowbray creamery’s machinery and equipment goes under the auctioneer’s hammer next week.

Founded back in 1780, Tuxford & Tebbutt created a blue Stilton that won just about every possible prize and award that could be bestowed on an English cheese, and gained the admiration of turophiles around the world.

However, recent years have seen Stilton sales hit by a host of challenges ranging from changing public taste and the cost of living crisis to the growing popularity of many new speciality cheeses, including rival blue cheeses.

Arla, the international farmer’s collective that owned Tuxford & Tebbutt, revealed at the start of last year that the Melton creamery was to be put up for sale. In June it was announced that no buyer had been found and production at the site was to cease.

Now industrial auctioneers Eddisons have been instructed to sell off the factory’s machinery, equipment, fixtures and fittings, which are to go under the hammer in an auction that is scheduled to end on Thursday 6 March. The auction extends to 400 lots and is expected to make as much as £200,000 (€241,600).

Eddisons director Paul Cooper said, “Tuxford & Tebbutt were famous for producing a very fine blue Stilton that was made to a 18th century recipe, using traditional skills, but the equipment it used to do it was constantly updated and improved. We haven’t found any antique kit in the factory – not a single piece.

“The quantities of cheese being manufactured on the site at any one time were quite breathtaking.  Just one of the storage areas had a capacity of 25,000 ten kilo blocks of Stilton, about 250 tons. So there is a lot of racking and shelving and then all the wrapping, packing, labelling and check-weighing machinery.”

Speaking about potential buyers, Cooper said, “Previous UK dairy industry auctions that we’ve staged have attracted bidding from around the world. So the interest could come from almost anywhere. The wrapping, packing, weighing equipment is expected to attract particular attention because that state-of-the-art kit has uses across a wide variety of food manufacturing processes.

“The factory also has equipment that was used to pack cheese into the Tuxford & Tebbutt ceramic jars in which some of the Stilton was sold. That could well be of interest to smaller speciality cheese producers.”

Cooper added: “Sadly there is no cheese in the auction. Tuxford & Tebbutt won countless prizes over the years for the cheese, which was described as ‘a fantastic creamy Stilton’  ‘with delicious rich piquant flavours’.”

By appointment viewing is 1000-1600 on Tuesday (4 March) at the Tuxford & Tebbutt Creamery in Melton Mowbray. The online auction is scheduled to end at 1300 on Thursday (6 March).

The catalogue is available at: auctions.eddisons.com/auctions.