Vegan Leicester

[RossClement]

Hi everyone. We're going to be moving to Leicester soonish. Any pointers or advice for a vegan family in Leicester or surrounding villages?

Cheers,

Ross-c

[tails4wagging]

cant think of anywhere in leic,. But there is a couple of good places to eat at Nottingham one being V1 wonderful vegan/veggie fast food outlet.

[VeganJohn]

I walked past V1 when I went to a gig in Nottingham - it was closed but the menu looked great.

[gertvegan]

Hi everyone. We're going to be moving to Leicester soonish. Any pointers or advice for a vegan family in Leicester or surrounding villages?

Hello Ross-c, check out the Leicestershire Vegetarian/Vegan Group website.

[twinkle]

Leicester is pretty sweet for vegans

We have a lot of veg indian restaurants, including two branches of Mirch Masala - they dish up "pure vegetarian food from three continents" and they mark the vegan options. If you're greedy the weekday buffet is a good bet.

There's a nice little healthfood shop called Currant Affairs on Loseby Lane, and they will order things in from Goodness Direct if they don't already have them in stock (I get them to get me Totally Fudge in, though I wish they'd start stocking them as a matter of course, because they're great vegan "ambassadors")

There's a traditional kind of veg restaurant near the station, I think it's called the Whole Truth or something. I haven't been for years though because it's very baked-potato-lentil-roasty - the sort of thing I can make at home, but don't usually

There's also the Wholefood Co-op off Dysart Way, off the inner ring road - they do a lot of vegan stuff, though they do have a freezer full of organic meat too.

There are also two branches of Holland and Barratts - they'll give you 10% off purchases if you show them a vegan soc membership card before they start ringing up your purchases, and you've spent over £5.

The GNC on Silver Street also do a 10% discount, no minimum purchase, and they have a deli counter where they sell things like apple samosas, which are weird but good.

Hope that helps, and I hope you like Leicester. I find it pretty nice.

[RossClement]

Hi everyone. I was posting from London on this forum a month or two ago. With the hassle of moving etc. I haven't posted recently, so I don't know if anyone remembers me.

Anyhow, we've more or less sorted out supplies of food and the like here. Our local supermarket is a small Co-op and there's a much larger Co-op a short bus ride away in Anstey, so we benefit from the vegan labelling on products. Though, we don't really go near Sainsburys except for the moderately small one in the centre of town. We've found three seemingly independent health food shops selling useful food products, and two Holland & Barrett's. Two of the health food shops have snacks such as cakes, samosas, lentil slices etc, some of which are labelled vegan, which is useful on days out.

We haven't yet found a variety of restaurants to eat at yet. One very useful one is "Mirch Masala" which is a vegetarian restaurant serving Asian Indian, Italian, Chinese, and Mexican vegetarian food. The vegan dishes are labelled. They also do take-aways, which is useful because the restaurant is about 3minutes walk from my work. They do a labelled vegan take-out "veggie burger and chips" which is, erm, authentic looking such that I worry that if anyone sees me eating one they'll think I'm a hypocrite

One thing I miss is the "all you can eat" vegan chinese places that were so common in London.

Cheers,

Ross-c

[RossClement]

I also must apologise to Twinkle who very kindly gave a whole lot of information about Leicester, which we then forgot to follow up on once we arrived, and then we ended up "rediscovering" it the hard way. Though, we'll now follow up the pointers to things we still don't know about.

Cheers,

Ross-c

[gertvegan]

From www.veggies.org.uk

Leicester Cruelty-Free Christmas Fair

Saturday 3rd Dec. 9:00 to 17:00

Methodist Church Rooms, Bishop Street, Leicester City Centre..

Many charity stalls based on animal welfare, and the Leicestershire Vegetarian/Vegan Group, with a display of veggie food for sale and sampling, plus recipes and helpful information.

Leicester Animal Concern . Ph: Phil: 0116 262 2030

[Chey]

sounds worth a look, i wish i could get there.

[gertvegan]

From www.veganvillage.co.uk

Cruelty free Xmas Fair, LEICESTER

At Bishop St. Methodist Church foyer City Centre, Leicester, Sat. 3rd Dec. Lovely food and var. animal friendly charities representing. @fludson@hotmail.com

[twinkle]

I usually go to these - it's a small venue but the local veggie group always run a stall, there are various local charities like hedgehog rescue and Dr Hadwens Trust is always there so I can stock up on chocolates I hope they bring more stock this year as I usually go early and buy up most of their supplies

[RossClement]

I got behind on many things last year, including following this forum.

The Christmas Fair was small, but good. Especially the vegan cake. Against my expectations my six year old ate an entire piece of the chocolate cake on sale.

Cheers,

Ross-c

[MidlandGal]

Leicester Veggie and Vegan Fair, Saturday 7th of October
Please see details at the link below, don’t forget the have a look at the raffle prizes too!
http://www.geocities.com/leicester_v...nts/autumnfair
Any questions?...just ask.

Also we really need more volunteers to help out, if you can help out in any way please, please get in touch with me.
Providing we have the volunteers to make it happen…then it should be a great day!

[aubergine]

I wish I could go, but I have to work saturdays

[MidlandGal]

Hi all

Just to remind people about the fair, if anyone is in Leicester please pop in and say hello, also we still need volunteers if anyone can please lend a hand

Full details are here
http://www.geocities.com/leicester_v...nts/autumnfair

[Shaolin Jedi]

Hi MidlandGal,

I will be at the Fair with my non-vegan GF (sigh). I would say that I became a vegan fairly recently, so I 'm looking forward to Saturday. I gather the Leicestershire Vegans will be there? I live in Oakham.

[twinkle]

How did the rest of the fair go, MidlandGal? Sorry I couldn't stay longer but I was pretty much dead on my feet and I had a few other things to sort out before I could crash.

[Ara]

Oh no! I only just saw this, boo i would have been there otherwise.

[MidlandGal]

Hi Twinkle

You did an amazing job, I am just sorry that I roped you in knowing you had just finished such a long shift, after all you were only dropping goods off! Thank you so much for donating an hour of your time in my hour of panic! (The first opening hour). The cookies you donated too went like wildfire, so quickly that I never even got a chance to taste them! Thank you so much for those.

Paul - did you make it? I would love you hear your feedback.
Ara - there is a very strong chance we are doing this again next year...only better!

The fair was a great success and we took nearly £450.
There where a few things we would alter or improve on but for a first attempt we couldn't have asked for much more. I also did 2 talks which went really well, in fact some people had turned up just for the advertised talks and seemed very convinced when presented the case for vegetarianism and veganism - for animals, health, the environment and people in developing countries.
The most common comment was, "I thought it was just an animal issue!" this was followed up by people saying they were now considering going veggie for the environment or for developing countries or cutting down on milk for their health. I have to accept that not everyone is veggie or vegan for the same reasons (though for me its animals!).

For me, the most satisfying thing was seeing people leave the fair clutching large handfuls of leaflets and "Go Veggie" packs. All the feedback we had from attendees and stall holders was very positive and we hope this will now be an annual event

Myself and my mum organised this fair to raise money to save Blondelle the cow from the abattoir and peacefully retire her to what will eventfully become a small farm rescue run by my family in France.
We spotted Blondelle when we went to visit my Father who lives in France; she was in a set aside area very near to his home. When we asked why she was there on her own we where told she had been separated ready for collection and slaughter. Mum and I quickly expressed an interest in buying her since my parents own a field at the back of my Fathers house which is currently unused. The farmer agreed to give us a few months to raise the money as he knows my dad quite well, and on top of the price of the cow we had to raise the cost for her full vets MOT which is required when an agricultural animal transfers owners in France. After all the discussions mum and I came home and organized this fair in the space of 8 weeks!

Now that we have raised the money for Blondelle (an ex-dairy cow) from the fair we can raise money to save other animals. The farmer thinks we are a bit strange but to him whether it is us or the abattoir giving him the cash it doesn’t really make much difference. Since we don't have loads of land we are realistic in that we won’t be able to retire all his dairy cows but we have the opportunity and the facilities to save some of these animals and feel we should do our best for them.
I am building a small page about our rescue and will post it when it is finished so people can see photos, you will see that Blondelle is absolutely beautiful…as are all creatures!

[Shaolin Jedi]

Paul - did you make it? I would love you hear your feedback.

Yeah, I made it. Some very friendly people, a good cause by the sound of it. Just think, instead of being woken up by a 'cock-a-doodle-do', it'll be a big 'mooo!'

Well done Midland Gal!

P.S. As I said above, I am fairly new to veganism. I am wondering if there are any groups in Rutland that meet up and stuff? Or is Leicester my best bet? (involves travelling)

[twinkle]

I'm glad everything went so well - you seemed to be doing a fantastic job organising everything - well done

[MidlandGal]

I have started a seperate thread on this but...here is Blondelle!

http://www.geocities.com/leicester_v...ndfriends.html

Thank you so much for your support people.

[MidlandGal]

Leicestershire Vegetarians and Vegans are meeting this Thursday (2nd of November) 7:30pm at the Friends Meeting House, 16 Queens Road, Leicester.
Free for members, £2 for guests. This month’s speaker will be Keely Short from Leicester Animal Aid in Huncote. Keely's going to be talking about the work they do providing shelter and care for homeless dogs and cats and then re-homing them. She'll also tell us about how supporters can sponsor animals and about some of the more unusual things the charity gets up to!
There will also be free refreshments and a raffle. Everyone is very welcome
www.leicesterveggies.org.uk

Also they are offering a free bar of Plamil chocolate to everyone who pays their £12 membership for next year before the end of this year!

[twinkle]

There's a green fair on at Bishop Street Church Rooms this Saturday, 10-4. It's a fairly small venue so probably won't be worth travelling massive distances for, but if you happen to be in the area it promises tasty veg*n refreshments, and there are normally fun prize-every-time type raffles and tombolas.

[MidlandGal]

Just want to let people know about cruelty free action week which has been arranged by Phoenix Arts, they are screening Fast Food nation in the week then there is a double screening on Sunday 17th June - The Witness + Jill's film and there will be a speaker before each film too, hopefully there will be vegan options served in the cafe too and a couple of stalls in the foyer.

More details are here on the veggies calender, please support it if you can and encourage non-vegan people along too.

http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1072

[Sueflower]

We have just sent this email to The Halli restaurant on granby Street in Leicester so I thought it may interest some of you who may live in or around Leicester there is also an invitation from the Halli and if anyone wouold like to go please email me at sue@1sd.co.uk before June 25th

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']At Leicestershire Vegetarian Group we were delighted to be invited along to Halli’s impressive launch party. Since then we’ve been regular visitors – both as a group and individually with other friends and family guests. The food is always freshly prepared and very tasty and the service is second to none. We visit a lot of restaurants in Leicestershire as a group and can honestly say that nowhere compares to the welcome we get at Halli. We are always looked after so well, the staff are very friendly and we are often made to feel like royalty![/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']With such a varied menu there is always something for everyone, the buffets you’ve prepared for us have been very popular and your meals are always good value for money. We are very pleased to see Halli doing so well, you deserve the success you are enjoying. We congratulate you on your recent award and look forward to visiting again soon![/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']HALLI AWARD CELEBRATION
Celebration Date:- Sunday 1st July 2007.
Time: 06.00 PM to 09.00 pm


The Directors, Management, staff and the Leicester Comedy
Festival team will be celebrating the day with various activities, on our
success on winning the 'Best Venue Award 2007' for The UDUPI HALL - The
in-house function room of Halli Restaurant.


Halli Restaurant, Authentic South Indian vegetarian cuisine,
first of its kind in Midlands has become one of the best restaurants in
Midlands within a short span of time. Halli has been recognised by media and
people from all over UK. We have been, Voted 5 star Leicester Restaurant
2006 by Leicester Mercury, recommended several times by Metro, The Guardian,
Happy Cow, Vegetarian Society, UKTVFOOD and many more websites and
magazines.


Without your constant support we wouldn't have done all these
achievements and it will be meaningless for us to celebrate this special
achievement without you. The Halli Team would be extremely grateful with
your esteemed presence, blessings and join us to raise a glass to celebrate
the 'The Best Venue Award 2007'.



We sincerely hope to see you at this happy event.


Regards,






Jaimon Thomas
Chief Executive









[/FONT]

[Sueflower]

Just re-read the message and i forgot to say that we always eat vegan at this restaurant. The menu is all vegetarian with lots of vegan options which are also marked vegan to make it easier to order.

[Sueflower]

Mirch Massala on Market Street, Leicester all Vegetarian with lots of vegan options also vegan ice cream.
Halli vegetarian restaurant on Granby Street in Leicester also 80% vegan food and fantastic service.

[Sueflower]

Just booked to go to this Pub tonight,I have been there twice before and it was excellent. How nice it is that when you book and say that I am a vegan the owner just says NO PROBLEM! see you tonight.

Joiners Arms
Church Walk Bruntingthorpe
Lutterworth Leicestershire
LE17 5QH
01162478258

Also forgot to mention Joules in Market Harborough Leicestershire are now doing Thursday and Friday nights as Vegetarian/Vegan nights. Went to a BBQ last friday 95% vegan really good ,Fry's burgers and sausages,Redwood cheese for the cheese board and fantastic deserts using the vegan cream.

[rianaelf]

i'm gonna be in Leicester in September for an anime convention at the university for three days.
I have booked a stall at the con and shall be selling herbs and oils and gels, all vegan ofcourse, but was a bit worried about food as i have to get there by train and carry all my stuff so there wont be much room for food as well so any suggestions on good places to eat or buy food near the uni would be very much appreciated!

[twinkle]

Which uni?

We've got two - De Montfort and Leicester.

[rianaelf]

It's De Montfort!
http://www.alcon.org.uk/
is Leicester train station the right station for it?

[veganlinda]

Hi Rianelf

there is no shortage of places selling vegan food in Leicester so we are v lucky, Currant Affairs on Lowesby Lane is eps good for sandwiches, cake and vegan pizza though (all vegan stuff is labled). It is a shop and so nowhere to sit but there is a juice bar on the same road where you can sit outside. Mirch Masala, mentioned on this thread, as well as being good for sit down meals, also sells great take outs and my fave is their veggie burger which is vegan.

[veganlinda]

Sorry, forgot to say train station is about a 20 minute walk from DMU so might be best to take a taxi if you have lots to carry. DMU is pretty central though, is easy to walk to the city centre.

[twinkle]

The nearest good places to DMU are Currant Affairs on Loseby Lane (as already mentioned by veganlinda) or there's Sardaar on Narborough Road, for inexpensive eat-in or takeaway Indian food - check out this menu I found. The samosas and tikki aloos are both very good value, the currys tend to be a bit greasy sometimes but tasty, and come with free bread to mop it up with.

[vegcurry]

If you feel like exploring a bit further then there is a fantastic choice of places to eat on the Belgrave Rd/Melton Rd in the north of the city. I lived there for five years or so and loved it to bits. My favourite place to eat is Ambica's which is found here.

Here's a scan of the takeaway menu (page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4). Tell them you're vegan/pure vegetarian and they'll go out of their way to make sure everything is okay. If you go on a Saturday then there's the Leicester Wholefood CoOperative and Tai Fat chinese supermarket not too far away.

[veganlinda]

Bit late to post on this thread but there is a wee gathering in Leicester this Friday at Mirch Masala (8.00) see meet up thread for more details of who is going.

Am thinking that as there are six peeps from Leicester going (and a few couldn't get) it might be nice to start a regular local vegan meet up for Leicestershire peeps say at the Halli for lunch on the last Sunday in the month (they have beer!) - let me know if you would be interested.

[MidlandGal]

Just want to let you Leicester folks know that it’s only 4 weeks until the Leicester Autumn Veggie/Vegan fair. Please, please support it cause if you don’t use ‘em you loose ‘em!
There are some great stalls and talks going on. Full details are below…


A Very Veggie Autumn Fair takes place again this year on Saturday 20th of October at Christchurch Hall, Clarendon Park Road, Leicester (10am-3pm). Visitors to the fair can expect to browse an array of stalls from different animal and green groups including: Leicestershire Vegetarian & Vegan Group, Leicester Badger Trust, Viva!, Respect for Animals, the Dr. Hadwen Trust, the League Against Cruel Sports, the Sea Shepherd and more

Quality new goods are available including health foods and groceries, cruelty free/vegan toiletries and ethically traded bags and accessories.
Old fair favourites feature too, including a raffle, tombola, jumble and brick brack stalls where fair goers will find second hand clothes, books and videos. Top prize on the raffle is a new digital camera – but tickets must be bought on the day!

A kid’s corner will provide colouring in activities and face painting and vegan snacks and refreshments will be available in the café.
There will be a program of talks and videos away from the main hall which will cover subjects such as the fur trade, protecting marine wildlife, why it’s green to be vegan and replacing animal experiments. The fair will also feature a compassionate tree where everyone can write and hang a written pledge.
Entrance to the fair is only 50p for adults, children enter free.
For more details see the fairs website
http://www.geocities.com/leicester_v...utumnfair.html

[pixeequeen]

Sounds awesome. I shall make an effort to swing on by!

[MidlandGal]

Just a quick reminder that the Leicester Veggie/Vegan fair is this saturday, please support it.
Full talks program, list of stalls and map is all on the website.
http://www.geocities.com/leicester_v...utumnfair.html

I am already dreaming of making it bigger and better next year and making it a full on vegan festival.
So come on down and tell us how we can improve on it for next year.
Ask for me (Verity) if you would like a chat about things

[twinkle]

Aw, I wish I could make it, but I'm working and it's too far to go in my lunch hour

[MidlandGal]

I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who attended, the fair was fantastic and exceeded all my expectations, there was a really good atmosphere and all the talks where well attended too.
The money raised was split between farm sanctuaries and the Vegan Society.

The event is definitely going ahead next year; the plan is to get it established on the 3rd Saturday of October every year, so the next one is on the 25th October 2008.

Definitely more food next year (which was all vegan of course) as it just went like hot cakes!

Thank you to everyone who supported it, and hope to see you there next year!

[veganlinda]

Sorry to have missed the fayre midlandgal (was poorly ) So glad that it went well

[MidlandGal]

This should be a really good evening so come on down! (Free for members £2 for non-members but refreshments free)


The Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation (VVF) team will mark World Vegan Day with Leicestershire Vegetarian/Vegan Group.
As well as cooking up healthy vegan delights to help in the management of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more, we’ll be on hand to answer any niggling nutritional questions you might have.

Meet the VVF team – and pick-up your copy of the V-Plan Diet – at The Friends Meeting House, Queens Road, Leicester on Thursday 1 November (7.30pm-10pm).

Contact Leicestershire vegetarians and vegans for more details www.leicesterveggies.org.uk

[rianaelf]

Thanx for all the helpful advice, sorry to be so late to reply.

Unfortunately i was so busy leading up to the convention that i forgot to print out the names of the places u recommended and as it turned out i had no money to go to them anyway and lived on oatabix and tomato flavoured noodles XD

I,m gonna do it again next year tho so hopefully by then i shall have studied a map, written down the names of the places and saved some money !

[veganlinda]

rianaelf. If you want to get in touch next time you are down you would be more than welcome to stay at mine. Sorry I didn't suggest it this time.

[rianaelf]

Wow, that is very kind of you

How far do you live from DeMontfort Uni?

Maybe you could come along and have a look at the Convention

http://www.alcon.org.uk/

Do you like Japanese Animation?

[veganlinda]

Hi Rianelf ... I forgot about this thread. Hope you found somewhere handy to stay. Do PM me for next year if you need want to stay at mine as I am only a 20 min walk from DeMontfort Uni or a shorter bus ride.

[veganlinda]

There's a green fair on at Bishop Street Church Rooms this Saturday, 10-4. It's a fairly small venue so probably won't be worth travelling massive distances for, but if you happen to be in the area it promises tasty veg*n refreshments, and there are normally fun prize-every-time type raffles and tombolas.

This is on again this saturday

BTW the Halli on Granby St has changed its name and gone omni
still does some vegan/veggie dishes but I went in there the other day and you can smell the meat dishes so not v nice.

[twinkle]

Yeah, I saw that. Their flyer said they now cater for special diets including vegetarian, vegan and glutton free. I had to laugh, but I'm still peed off with them. If we want the old Halli experience we'll have to go to Melton Road for the Halli Express now.