It is a fundamental fact of life that you can’t have too much cheese. To deal with this inevitability, there is Renoufs. This local chain of Cheese & Wine bars is situated at 7 locations in and around Bournemouth, with branches in Westbourne, Wimborne, Lyndhurst, Canford Cliffs, Verwood and our very own local – Southbourne.

The allocation of cheese is determined by party size. Pictured is the Party Board; designed to serve 4 people, it consists of 8 cheeses and 8 meets selected from the day’s list. This comes on a board scattered with accompaniments, such as bread, crackers, pate, olives, hummus and pickles.

There are similar offers for smaller/larger parties. A vegan option is also available, although it contains things such as stuffed vine leaves and avocado salad as ‘a delicious alternative to cheese’ rather than vegan cheese, which, I feel, would be a more delicious alternative.

To top off a perfect evening of cheese consumption, wine is offered either by the glass or as a Wine Flight of 3 samples. And if you really can’t get enough cheese, there’s even the option of a Cheesecake Flight for dessert.

Shopping for Cheese

In addition to its restaurant chain, Renoufs has two Pantry Cheese Shops; in Westbourne and Christchurch. Here you can purchase a wide range of cheeses plus those all important cheese accompaniments such as crackers and condiments. In addition, there are seasonal offerings like picnic goodies in summer and hampers at Christmas. You can even buy a tiered cheese wedding cake.

The Bournemouth suburb of Southbourne may only be small, but it’s big on cheese. A few doors down from Renoufs is another cheese shop; Parlourmentary. Here, you can buy a wide range of cheeses, plus other deli provisions and a variety of locally produced goodies such as fruit & veg, baked goods and ice cream.