Vegan Food In Stoke on Trent

Last weekend we had a nightmare situation of a close family member rushed into hospital.  We live in Wales,  so we rapidly packed a bag and headed back to my home town of Stoke on Trent.  My relative is getting better which we are really chuffed about.  But I wanted to share my experience of the food situation for vegans in this area,  I have not lived in this area for over 11 years so I hoped for the best.

I do not know of any veggie B&B’s in the area so I had to choose a Premier Inn which is clean and tidy.  However I am a really difficult person to please with food,  I do not trust any restaurant or cafe that serves meat to give me veggie food,  I have seen what goes on in commercial kitchens and it has put me off for life.  I only eat in veggie only cafes/restaurants. So I could not eat at the Premier Inn.

Wonderful, or so I thought,  there is a veggie cafe (the only veggie place in miles) in the city centre main town (Hanley) called The Big Strawberry just off Piccadilly.  On Saturday we were late but we were not worried because it said they were open until 5.30,  we arrived at 3pm.  The cafe had a closed sign on,  I opened the door to double check and they said they were closing early.  Whilst the door was open a got a waft of greasy fried food which was not pleasant,  but I thought it was maybe because they were very busy.

They were closed Sunday,  so we thought we would try again on Monday.  We called in and the place was empty at dinner time,  sadly the cafe had a terrible smell of old cooking oil and everywhere felt greasy.  We sat down and looked at the menu, which was filled with baguettes, chips and baked potatoes.  Given the smell of the place I felt very uncomfortable and decided that I could not face it.  When we left we smelled of the greasy fat which was horrible.  I am so disappointed with the only veggie place in over 30 miles.  They could clean it up and offer fresh food,  I don’t get it.  Also after I left I checked their food hygiene rating with the local council and they have 3 stars out of 5 which is far from ideal and matched with what I thought of the place.  I would only recommend this place to people who have a strong stomach and who does not mind the most basic food that has no imagination.

On the upside,  I found a place where we picked up lots of food for hotel room picnics.  You will have noticed that most of my reviews over the weekend and early this week were M&S products and this is why.   From Marks & Spencers we had their vegan ready to eat samosas,  fresh salad pots and wholemeal baps with vegan margarine,  fresh ready chopped fruit, cashew nuts, avocados, crackers, bananas, sweeties.  We were full to the brim and we had fruit buns for breakfast.    We got paper plates and plastic cutlery and we survived from Friday night until Tuesday on this food.  I must say it was really really nice.  However I was pleased to get some hot food on Tuesday night when we got home.

So Stoke on Trent is still not great for veggies, but you can always make do if you try.