Local Exclusively Vegetarian Cafés & Restaurants

NEW - Ellie from Portsmouth has put together a website of recommended places to eat out veggie/vegan in Hampshire, and would like people to make recommendations - see www.hampshire.veggroup.org.

Remember to take your membership card with you to get any discounts mentioned below!

Allsorts Psychic Café, 22 Carlton Place, Southampton. Tel: 023 80237561. They have soup, a choice of main courses and desserts, including many vegan choices (although choice for vegans is poor Wednesdays). Open Wednesday to Saturday 10.30 a.m. till 5.30 p.m. Elsewhere in the building during the daytime only they do massages, tarot, aromatherapy, etc. www.allsorts-psychic-cafe.com. 10% discount at Allsorts Psychic Café off daytime food and drink (but not therapies or evening food/drinks) if you're an SVV or Viva! member and spend £5 or more. Allsorts is now open on most Friday and Saturday evenings for veggie food and events/workshops, run by a separate organisation - Active Arts Community - see www.activeartists.org.uk.

NEW The Art House, 81a Bedford Place, Southampton, SO15 2DF (entrance on Henstead Road). 023 8023 8582. www.thearthousesouthampton.co.uk. An art gallery which from 22nd Jan 2008 will have a fully vegetarian café serving an imaginative range of internationally inspired vegetarian and vegan food. Open Tuesday-Sunday during the day, and also Friday-Saturday evenings. Also open Tuesday evenings for 'Tapas Tuesdays'. See website for opening times, since food is available over more limited times than drinks and cakes.

Applebys, 5 Old Hughenden Yard, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1LT. 01672 515200. This used to be called the Stones in Marlborough but has changed its name (and presumably owners too).

Café Paradiso, 9 Priory Lanes, Northgate, Chichester, East Sussex, PO19 1AR. 01243 532967. Fairly limited choice for vegans.

NEW The Greenhouse Kitchen, 59 Marmion Road, Southsea, Portsmouth. PO5 2AX. 023 92815511. www.thegreenhousekitchen.co.uk. Opened in May 2008. Vegetarian Society approved.

The National Trust Circle Restaurant, High St, Avebury (Near Marlborough), Wiltshire, SN8 1RF. 01672 539514. This is at the celebrated stone circle in Avebury. It used to be called the Stones Restaurant which was fully veggie. It closed down around 2000, but opened up again in 2001 as Circle Restaurant, and is now run by the National Trust. We've heard that it has remained fully vegetarian.

The New Vegetarian, 44 Upper St James Street, Newport, Isle of Wight. Tel: 01983 533044. Open 10am-4pm Monday-Saturday. All products vegetarian. Also vegan, wheatfree, organic and low fat options. Our thanks to Isle of Wight Vegetarians & Vegans for telling us about this.

The Salad Centre, 667 Christchurch Rd, Boscombe, Bournemouth. 01202 393673. www.thesaladcentre.co.uk.

Soul Bowl, 78 West Marlands Road, Southampton, SO14 7FW. 023 8071 0648. www.soul-cellar.com. This coffee house and vegetarian café opened in May 2007 within the Soul Cellar (a club + bar). Open 11am - 9pm Monday - Saturday. From late August 2007 it started to sell desserts, including vegan cakes.

Wessex Tales, 20 Ashley Rd, Boscombe, Bournemouth. 01202 309869. www.geocities.com/vegetarian_restaurant. A wholefood vegan restaurant owned by dedicated vegans who are members of Bournemouth Vegetarians & Vegans. Meals are 50 to 100% organic. It's opposite the Bus Terminal and Sovereign Centre Car Park. Open Tuesday to Thursday 11.30 a.m. till 3 p.m. and Friday to Saturday 11.30 a.m. till 2.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. till 10 p.m. It opened in Autumn 2000. Several Solent Vegetarians & Vegans members have eaten here and like it a great deal. The place looks very classy inside and outside, the food is mostly organic and very tasty, yet prices are very reasonable.

Local Exclusively Vegetarian B&Bs & Hotels

'The Barn', 112 Lyndhurst Road, Ashurst, Hampshire, SO40 7AU. 023 8029 2531 or 07791 990351. www.veggiebarn.net. An exclusively veggie/vegan guest house in Ashurst (in between Southampton and Lyndhurst). They currently have two rooms (both en suite) but plan on a third as and when demand requires it. Owned by vegetarians and committed to providing high quality environmentally sensitive holiday accommodation for fellow veggies and vegans. They have solar water heating and electricity, and even their website is hosted by a company that runs its web servers from renewable energy sources - see www.ecologicalhosting.com for details.

Brambles Vegan Guest House, 10 Clarence Road, Shanklin, Isle of Wight. This closed down in August 2004 but opened up again in April 2005. All rooms are en-suite, non-smoking. 01983 862507. www.bramblesvegan.co.uk.

Seashells B&B 7 Burlington Rd, Swanage, Dorset BH19 1LR. 01929 422794.

Eating Out Veggie in Other Parts of the Country

Sorry, we're not expert enough to make a list, but we've seen quite a few books on this subject, and can recommend Vegetarian Britain 2006 by Alex Bourke (published Nov 2005). If you are travelling to London try Vegetarian London or Europe - Vegetarian Europe. You can buy all of these from October Books at 243 Portswood Road, Southampton - also available by mail order (see www.octoberbooks.org/veg). Another book covering the UK (but not as good as Vegetarian Britain) is Vegetarian Visitor by Annemarie Weitzel (also available for free on-line www.vegetarianvisitor.co.uk).

Viva! sell lots of different local guides and also guide for different countries which you can buy from them by mail order. - see www.viva.org.uk.

There's also a few internet sites which recommend places to eat out for veggies and vegans. You can help them to grow by emailing them your recommendations and corrections. Examples include www.vegdining.com and www.happycow.net.