One of Britain's champion cheesemakers is quitting because, he claims, shoppers have been brainwashed into only buying Cheddar.

Richard Hares, crowned supreme champion at the Nantwich International Cheese Show for the fifth time last month, told the latest edition of The Grocer magazine he has been forced to give up his Cheshire cheese-making business because it no longer pays.

He estimates he is losing £20,000 a year and the market for specialist cheeses is disappearing.