England: Vegetarian Food
[This section is in the earliest stages of development: 20 July 2002]
London
Worcestershire
Great
Malvern (I believe that there is a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian restaurant at
the railway station, although I have never visited it). There is a wholefood
retail shop, through a vennel along the main street, called The Bran Tub,
selling vegetarian and vegan food.
St. Ann's Well Vegetarian Cafe is located part way up Worcestershire Beacon from Great Malvern. It serves good vegan (as well as vegetarian) food; a huge range of different tisanes and free spring water; it is inexpensive, and boasts rebuilt toilets, including hot water. It is open for lunch and afternoon tea (there is often vegan chocolate cake) the year round, including most bank holidays. Disabled access is possible as there are no steps, but pushing a wheelchair up the hill to the cafe would be very hard work. The ambience is mixed, with 'alternative' people rubbing shoulders with seasoned ramblers and National Trust types out for an afternoon stroll. There are newspapers to read while waiting for your tisane to cool. Its popularity is well-deserved: recommended.
Warwickshire
Ryton, near Coventry: Ryton Organic Gardens (Henry Doubleday Research Association), cafe/restaurant with vegetarian dishes on the menu and salads suitable for vegans; mid-range prices; good access for disabled people and wheelchairs, including toilet facilities; recommended.
Birmingham
Birmingham: I believe that The Warehouse Cafe, in Allinson Street, Digbeth; may now be closed. It was a vegetarian restaurant with lots of vegan options, good quality food with somewhat more adventurous menu than usual; alternative ambience; fair price; poor access for disabled people and none for wheelchairs; dodgy car-parking - use public transport.
Shropshire
Ludlow:
an excellent coffee-shop, The Ego Cafe, serving Bewley's coffee, and
willing to prepare a vegan lunch on request. Street market on Saturdays. Broad
Bean, wholefood retailer on Broad Street, has vegetarian and vegan food.
Shrewsbury:
Jesters has vegetarian dishes on the menu, and is willing to adapt some
to be suitable for vegans.
Yorkshire
Saltaire:
the 1853 Gallery of David Hockney works (lift
for wheelchair access between floors); good eating facilities at Salt's
Diner, including vegetarian, also explicitly catering for vegans; with
friendly staff. Recommended.
York: The
Blake Head is a vegetarian restaurant (104 Micklegate, York; 01-904-
623 767), also catering for vegans. The
Rubicon Vegetarian Restaurant and Bar (5 Little Stonegate, York YO1 3AX;
01-904-676-076) also serves vegan food. Both recommended. There is nothing
vegan to eat on the menu, the tea at Betty's Tea Rooms (6-8 St Helens Square,
York; 01-904-659-142) is excellent, and the decor wonderful.
Harrogate: Wild Ginger, 5
Station Parade, Harrogate, HG1 1UF; 01423-566-122 e-mail:
wildginger@veganvillage.co.uk (see Vegan
Village website for more details); a very good vegan bistro
offering a range of dishes; mid-range prices; good access for disabled people
and wheelchairs. Recommended.
Whitby: I am told that Whitby has three
eating places which cater for vegans, which is surprising being an
old-established fishing port; there is an establishment called Shepherds
Purse, Wholefoods, Vegetarian Restaurant & Shop;
01-947-820-228, but I have no first hand experience).
County Durham
Willington:
Style, francophilic proprietor with vegetarian-friendly chef, eager to
prepare vegan Mediterranean-style dishes, especially if given about 36 hours
notice when a wish-list can be agreed over the telephone. I used to recommend Style
until they changed their menu to what they term Bistro, and the place no longer
has the same ambience..
Tyne & Wear
Newcastle: There are no longer any
vegetarian restaurants in Tyne & Wear. The Supernatural , started in
the mid-1970s next to the Central Library. It unwent various lives: it was
always a vegetarian and part-vegan cafeteria, inexpensive and fairly
unimaginative. Towards the end of its life, during the day it was a cafeteria,
and in the evening there was waiter/ess service. It finally closed its doors in
about 2000. The Red Herring vegetarian restaurant and health/wholefood
shop, close to Fenham and the Town Moor, was a worker’s co-operative, which
started as a bakery in about 1984. Its ambience was politically alternative and
left-of-centre, but sadly infused with tobacco smoke. Its food was hearty, but
rather on the heavy side (depending on who was cooking). It closed in about
1999. Heartbreak Soup, on the Quayside is still in business, but is no
longer a vegetarian restaurant. Fatty Arbuckles in one of the Quayside
pubs still operates, with all the ambience of a Newcastle Quayside pub, and
serves vegetarian food. When I tried to check out something vegan, I remained
unconvinced.
Northumberland
Alnwick: A vegetarian, largely daytime,
restaurant called The Town House, looks good, and has a
reasonable-looking menu. I have never managed to visit it because it is closed
on Sunday afternoons.
