Written on 06 September 2011.

Vegan Café 4 the Day - could your group do this?

Last Saturday Hazel and I went just over the border to Llangollen in North Wales to visit the ‘Vegan Café 4 the Day’ in one of the old halls in the middle of town. The FREE Café tours Wales, setting up for one day in towns where there are no other vegan places to eat.

The leaflet below was being handed out in the streets as we arrived:

The group take the event all over Wales, and have been getting great responses everywhere they go.

Llangollen (pronounced Thlangothlen) is a tourist town and it was full of visitors on the first Saturday of September, which made it an ideal venue for the vegan event.

The old hall was packed, with a mixture of vegans glad of somewhere to eat and meet other vegans – and a lot of curious locals and tourists who came in just to try what was on offer. The atmosphere was good too, all very relaxed and friendly, with more of a sense of community than normal cafes where people often don’t talk to those on the next table.

It was all run by volunteers, with funding mostly from donations plus a small grant from the Vegan Society.

Right: signs in English and Welsh outside the old building.

This touring café is an idea that other groups around the world could use, especially those away from the bigger cities.

Inside the main entrance – a menu board, partly in Welsh, and the local guide leaflet:

Below: some of the happy eaters with their free food, about 1.00pm - it had been full since opening at 10.00am, with lots of visitors coming and going:

Below: part of the buffet (waiters were also serving the from the menu), the hard-working (and mostly young) volunteer staff in the kitchen, a rack with some free leaflets and books for sale, and a plate of falafel and salad:

Llangollen is mostly known for its annual week-long ‘International Eisteddfod’ (music and dance festival), which attracts participants from all over the world, and we spend a day there most years. But the town is a tourist attraction in its own right – below is the view from bridge in the middle of town, looking over the River Dee towards the railway station:

Near the town is some dramatic scenery in the mountains. A few minutes to the west we drove through the Horseshoe Pass and took this photo at the top, looking back to the road we had just driven up. You can just see two cars passing on the bend, and some farm houses at the bottom of the valley (on a rather dull day):