just wondering if anyone had any opinions on where in the UK it is easiest to be vegan...
for eating out, vegan societies, groceries, etc etc
or do you think it makes no difference
I'd say that Brighton has to be in the top 10 for the country. Leicester is pretty good, especially if you like spicy food - we have lots of pure vegetarian indian places.
Manchester is cool coz we have the Basement cafe and vegan shop, Eighth Day cafe and grocery store and the 'fantastic all vegan couldn't live without it' Unicorn Grocery store
I have always found manchester ok.here its more difficult but i cook my own food most of the time..and when I eat out i find it limits me..but its worth it..im kinda glad sometimes cos i struggle with my weight and if i do eat out its usually salad!
The worst place ever has got to be here, Northern Ireland, we are part of the United Kingdom so I just thought I'd say!
One of my very good friends lives in Northern Ireland (Bangor) and I do struggle when I go over to visit. She is getting married this year and out of over 100 guests (many around my age - 27) I was not surprised to be the only vegan, but there is only one vegetarian too!!!
We had a barbecue last weekend and out of 38 guests - 12 were vegetarian!
"Only after the last tree has been cut down,the last fish caught [and] the last river poisoned;only then will you realise that money cannot be eaten"
I hope your friend has a lovely day Holly and that you have a great time too! Hopefully though, you will have better luck at getting a proper meal at the reception than I have had recently. We went out for a family meal with relatives from Canada, despite me and my husband visiting the restaurant several days before to explain what I would like, things didn't go well. I was given a very large plate with about 10 baby potatoes in their jackets rolling around on it, and a small side dish consisting of limp salad leaves and some tiny pickled onions! Yuk!
This had to be eaten with the smell of my Uncle's dish of prawns and other fish wafting across the table to me! I still found myself smiling and saying to the waiter, 'I hope this wasn't too much trouble for the chef?'
Hopefully, he realised I was being just a little sarcastic.
Thank you!! Yes - your restaurant experience sounds very familiar! Potatoes and salad every time!
Debs knows she is dead if I don't get a proper reception meal though (only joking!) I am actually more worried about the wine...do you think it would be terribly rude to bring some over with me and let the hotel staff have it on the morning and get them to put it at my place on the table ready?
"Only after the last tree has been cut down,the last fish caught [and] the last river poisoned;only then will you realise that money cannot be eaten"
That sounds like a good idea! I don't know though if it might be different with wine, but I actually suggested to the place I was at that I would bring my own food but they said no, something to do with health and safety. I think it's to protect themselves incase you got ill while eating at their restaurant, but again it might be different with wine.
If you found out before hand though what wine they will be serving at the reception you could check up yourself to see if it is suitable. All the best and I hope you all have a lovely day!
I think pretty much any city is the best place to be vegan. Personally I'd rank it by which place has the best access to vegan products and the distribution of such products countrywide is now very good.
I'm not too fussed about resturants and take away food - to me they're novelty/special occassion things and I don't mind travelling at such times. I'd hate to turn into someone who relies on preprepared food as it's generally a lot more expensive and less healthy.
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
Sandra and Holly 78, I get a baked squash and tomato sauce every f.....g time I go out as the vegan option, they are totally obsessed. The next time this dish is placed in front of me my head will spin like the exorcist!!!
I'd love potatoes and salad as a change from this tedium, I hate squash now!
Brighton is brilliant for vegans but oh so expensive!
Hehe, Hemlock you remind me of the period of 2-3 years where I would get offered butternut squash risotto every time I went to a fancy restaurant. It was okay the first couple of times, but after a while my look of bored disgust had restaurant workers backing away from me shortly after the dreaded words had passed their lips
well it goes without saying that london is the land of cosmopolitan for uk so you you always find somthing you need. the best parts are camden, neals yard, portobello road and brick lane.
other than that brighton it great, and i found edinburgh to be fantastic. many good places for fellafel and a non profit eco friendly cafe near the guilded balloon. menu is 100% vegetarian and almost completely vegan, dead cheap too with friendly staff.
plus did you know serve vegan haggis almost everywhere?
there's loads of those £5 buffets in London now, they are really breeding. We were wandering through Soho & Covent Garden areas the other day and there was one around every corner. Getting that way around Tottenham Court Road too!
I found it dead easy in Brighton and in Liverpool when I lived in both places . I think part of the reason it was so easy is the great network of other Vegans in those places.
It's 'hard' in Northern (rural) Scotland in that there are NO places to eat out, a 90 mile trip to a health food shop, and some things cannot be mail ordered to my address .
To keep things in perspective, though, it's not very hard or impossible to be Vegan in many places, really, is it?. Just depends on your expectations. There are not all that many places where you can't get plant and cereal foods.
I suppose there are lots of things you can make yourself, at home, if you've got the time! from things that can be stored in bulk... ie I just read how to make soya milk, tofu, and okara, from dried soybeans, and pretty much all beans and lentils and split peas and all that can be bought dried or tinned and will last ages. I think if you can make a trip to a health food place just a couple of times a year, you can be stocked up with what you need and just have to buy fruit and veg really! But you'd need to have enough time for making all that bread and milk etc...! That's women used to stay at home instead of working, it was before convienience food!
I was pleasantly surprised visiting Norwich recently. Several (part) vegan cafes and restaurants including one selling vegan & eco friendly supplies.
Not a place, but I've found as you travel north, chip-shop chips start to be cooked in beef fat . You can probably draw a line accross the country, but I don't know where it starts. Yes I know I should avoid them anyway for health and contamination reasons.
Went to Edinburgh for 3 days the other week, ate in 6 veggie places from dirt cheap (Forest, Engine Shed, Veggie Baked Potato Shop), through reasonable priced (Suzies Diner), to more expensive (Ana Purna, Hendersons) and still had 4 more places to visit next time, plus lots of half veggie places like falafel outlets.
I can however name the worst place for vegans in UK (IMO) - Scarborough!! I'm gonna take my own food, the next time I go there.
Well strangely enough it will soon have a veggie and vegan restaurant! I was at Sagar in Twickenham last week with the sister of the woman who is setting it up!
It is certainly needed there but Blackpool is pretty bad too!
I think St Helens must be up there on the list of the worst places to be vegan. my parents live there and we were supposed to be going out for a meal there recently - i rang around about 10 restaurants and I couldn't get anything like a decent vegan meal - i would have loved a butternut squash risotto but I think thats a bit too adventurous for the north west!
we ended up going for a curry (which for all i know contained animal fat as I had given up trying by then)
luckily, Worcester (where I live now) is much more vegan friendly!
I' ve found Sheffield pretty good for buying vegan food but I don't eat out enough to judge it for that. Sheffield University Student Union has a bar/cafe which labels vegan options
I've never been in another city long enough to be able to say whether it is the best though.
I think London has to win for variety and numbers. Birmingham is ok but I do think as the second biggest city that it would have more vegetarian/vegan restaurants. Apart from the Warehouse Cafe and some Indian/Pakistani restaurants there isn't anywhere I can think of that is exclusively vegetarian/vegan? Worcester is far better in my opinion and a fraction of the size!
"Only after the last tree has been cut down,the last fish caught [and] the last river poisoned;only then will you realise that money cannot be eaten"
I guess London is a much expensive place to live than Brighton - but how much? How much is a an average three room apartment (buy or rent) in London, and how much is it in Brighton?
I guess London is a much expensive place to live than Brighton - but how much? How much is a an average three room apartment (buy or rent) in London, and how much is it in Brighton?
It all depends where of course.
In my suburb a one bedroom flat is nearly £200,000 and you won't be able to park anywhere near your home. Purpose built flats with parking seem to settle around £250,000 to £300,000. A four bedroom semi detached house will set you back £450,000 and upwards. Cheaper homes are available but the problem areas are really concentrated around here so it comes with some risk both personally and financially.
Many London Boroughs are similar, although we have an unusual amount of premium property locally, as well as fifteen minute fast trains to London. Low crime and pollution certainly seem to add to the appeal, even if the area is soul-less.
The upshot of the buy-to-let boom is that there is a surplus of affordable rents. A one bedroom flat with allocated parking, secure entrance and a short walk a mainline station and shops can be rented for £700pm which is less than some mortgages on the properties!
Some stats:
Average Property Selling Prices in Brighton Jan 2008
Detached £550,792
Semi £301,259
Terraced £301,598
Flat £197,691
All £277,179
Average Property Selling Prices in London Jan 2008 (average across all boroughs)
Detached £907,844
Semi £508,955
Terraced £512,120
Flat £330,052
All £418,137
Average Property Selling Prices in Abbey Wood Jan 2008 (affordable urban)
Detached no data
Semi £227,500
Terraced £188,556
Flat £120,125
All £175,500
Average Property Selling Prices in Richmond Jan 2008 (desirable suburban)
Detached £1,325,000
Semi £700,445
Terraced £571,407
Flat £307,980
All £443,693
the best place to be vegan in the UK
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ive never been but really am determined to get there one day!
I'm gonna take my own food, the next time I go there.
sandra
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. You can probably draw a line accross the country, but I don't know where it starts. Yes I know I should avoid them anyway for health and contamination reasons.
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