England: Vegetarian Food

[This section is in the earliest stages of development: 25 December 2006]

London

Avon

 Bristol has an excellent vegetarian restaurant (but I need to remeber what it was called).

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.

Stratford-on-Avon has a small vegetarian cafe ?The Orange Tree?, but with very limited vegan.

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 to take away.

 Shrewsbury: Jesters has vegetarian dishes on the menu, and is willing to adapt some to be suitable for vegans.

Cheshire

 Chester used to have a nice little vegetarian restaurant just off Northgate Street. Sadly no longer.

Merseyside

 Liverpool. The only place I have eaten vegan food in Liverpoool is in the basement of the Everyman Theatre.

Gretaer Manchester

 Manchester has several vegetarian restaurants that serve vegan meals. Some of these require reservations to be made.

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).

Teesside

 Eaglescliffe. The Waiting Room, close to Eaglescliffe railway station, has a gourmet vegetarian menu, but appears to have little that would be suitable for vegans.

County Durham

To my knowledge, there are no vegetarian resataurants anywhere in County Durham. It is little wonder I have learned to cook so well!

There used to be a gourmet restaurant in Willington, called Style.It had a francophilic proprietor with a vegetarian-friendly chef who was eager to prepare vegan Mediterranean-style dishes, especially if given about 36 hours notice when a wish-list would be agreed over the telephone. I would recommend Style until they changed their menu to what they term Bistro, and the place no longer had the same ambience. The property was sold some years ago.

Tyne & Wear

 Newcastle: There are two vegetarian restaurants in Tyne & Wear.

The Supernatural started in the mid-1970s next to the Central Library, in the city centre. It unwent various lives: it was always a vegetarian and part-vegan cafeteria, inexpensive and fairly unimaginative. Towards the end of its independent life, during the day it was a cafeteria, and in the evening there was waiter/ess service. It closed its doors in about 2000, but was given a new lease of life by Almonds and Raisins, a health food shop that had been next door, but has now taken over the Supernatural premises.

The Blue Apple is a vegetarian cafe / restaurant in Heaton, a few miles from the city centre. I remain uncertain about its vegan credentials.

Whilst Heartbreak Soup, on the Quayside is still in business, it 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.

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.

 

Northumberland

        Alnwick: A vegetarian, largely daytime, restaurant called The Town House, looks good, and has a reasonable-looking menu, but is not aimed at vegans. It is closed on Sunday afternoons.

Cumbria

Grassmere.There is a pleasant little cafe called The Rowan Tree that serves vegetarian food, with a very limited vegan range.

 

  p.g.h@btinternet.com