Waitrose has completely revamped its pre-pack cheese fixture, adding 80 new lines as well as an entirely new 'better plus' tier of high-quality artisan cheeses.

The chain is also expanding its own-label Essential range by a further 15 cheeses and adding new Norwegian speciality cheeses to its line-up.

And it has changed the layout of the fixture to create a better "flow of products", with Feta, Mozzarella and Parmesan moving closer to other speciality cheeses, and sliced and grated moving next to cottage cheese and Ricotta.

Waitrose cheese buyer Chris Dawson said he hoped the new layout would improve the "shopping experience" for customers and that the new 'better plus' tier called 'Best of British' would attract more premium shoppers to the fixture.

"What we have delivered provides greater choice and a better layout," Dawson said.

"We know our customers are passionate about cheese and especially British cheese, and the new Best of British range responds to that."

'Best of British' comprises eight artisan "hero" cheeses four Cheddars (cave-aged Wookey Hole, Bakers Somerset Ploughman, Denhay Farm and Greens of Glastonbury) and four territorials (Red Leicester, Double Gloucester and Cheshire supplied by Belton Cheese and Wensleydale from Wensleydale Dairy Products).

The new Essential cheeses include Continental classics such as Feta, Camembert and Mascarpone, while the new Norwegian range features three new products from Jarlsberg alongside speciality cheeses Ridder, Selblu Bla and Snofrisk.

In order to create space for the new lines, Waitrose had removed "duplication" across its pre-pack and counter fixtures, Dawson said, although he would not say which duplicate cheeses had been removed.

Waitrose started rolling out the new lines and introducing the new layout this Monday.