It has been a tough year for vegan restaurants with many choosing to sit the year out rather than eke out an existence selling take aways. Some that are currently dormant are unlikely to re-open and there are others that have already announced that they are moving on. Sadly one of those is Vegan Spartan, a restaurant that opened in 2019 in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and could claim to be the biggest vegan restaurant in the UK.
In a statement on Facebook the company has announced that it is closing
“We have put all our efforts into this restaurant, we made sacrifices and invested a lot to make our dream come true and we’ve made it! We are proud to be able to say we have survived over 1 year as a new business through the most difficult times, while so many wonderful businesses have closed their doors during this pandemic.”
The restaurant was a quirky one occupying a huge space at the end of a shopping mall at the edge of the town centre. It offered an eclectic and interesting menu with an emphasis on health and nutrition. And because of this, unusually for a vegan restaurant sold neither coffee nor alcohol.
It also played a key role in the local community as the message outlines.
“We want to thank our staff and the community that helped us up to this point! Although this year was difficult for us as a business, we sacrificed time and resources to help those in need, people affected by this virus and donated plenty of healthy meals that were so much needed in these difficult times. We believe we were here for this reason and we are so grateful and happy we could make a change and leave our mark in this lovely community!”
The space will now be taken over by a restaurant called Aroma that will also serve non-vegan food.
