Neal's Yard Dairy is a London artisanal cheese retailer and (formerly) cheesemaker, described as "London's foremost cheese store." The first store, located in Neal's Yard, Covent Garden, London, is considered an important part of the revival of the immediate area. Founded in 1979 by Nick Saunders and Randolph Hodgson as a cheesemaker's shop, one of their first customers was Monty Python's John Cleese. The new owners were still learning how to make cheese, and "had only managed yoghurt that day, so it all rather descended into a Monty Python sketch".