Award-winning vegan pub clarifies position on introducing meat dishes

Stephen Price

An award-winning pub which famously made its entire menu vegan back in 2022 has clarified its stance on serving meat-based dishes, following a ‘growing trend’ of other businesses going ‘back to meat’.

In a statement shared on social media on Wednesday 27 August, the team wrote: “We’ve had a few people ask recently, so need to set the record straight.

The post featured three photo captions which read: “Official statement. With the growing trend of other plant-based restaurants and influencers going ‘back to meat’, we’ve had a few people ask if we’ll do the same…

“The answer is simple: no.”

The statement continued: “Yes, times are tough and it’s never easy running a business that puts ethics before profit. But this is a promise we’ll never break.

“Our kitchen has been 100% plant-based for almost 4 years, and we’ll never go back.”

The post added: “We’ll close before we put corpses back on the menu, and we won’t be closing any time soon.”

The Queen Inn

The Queen Inn in Cwmbran became fully plant based when it removed animal products from its menu for Veganuary 2022, and famously scooped the title of the best-ranked vegan restaurant in Europe

Two years later, it was named the fourth best plant-based restaurant in the world and the best in Europe by vegan guide, Happy Cow.

Menu items include gourmet versions of pub classics like f*sh and ch*ps and ch*cken and b*con pie.

The Queen Inn, established in the 1800s, is a family-owned business in the Welsh town and owner Ryan Edwards said they were “over the moon” to have reached the top spot on the list.

Describing itself as the “world’s first plant-based steakhouse,” The Queen Inn’s aim is to push plant-based dining in new directions.

The pub serves hyper-realistic plant-based meat cuts, including Redefine Meat flank and Juicy Marbles filet. This ‘meaty’ formula has helped attract vegans and non-vegans alike.

“Most of our customers are animal-eaters who want a cruelty free way of eating their favourite pub meals,” Edwards told Plant Based News.

“We also get big parties with just a few vegans, who would usually go to non-vegan places where the token vegan will have a disappointing meal.”

For those who prefer vegetable-based food, The Queen Inn serves dishes like Cauliflower steak, Fable shiitake mushroom pie, and Chana masala.

“We always find that animal-eaters are pleasantly surprised at the quality of the meals,” said Edwards. “They realize that plant-based dishes don’t always taste like cardboard.”

Since being named the number one restaurant on Happy Cow, The Queen Inn has seen “a huge surge in bookings”.

This is just one of the many glowing customer reviews on Trip Advisor: “Blew my mind. Went for a birthday meal with my family and spend ages trying to decide what to have because it all looked incredible. I will be returning very soon to try the rest of the menu!! Highly, highly recommend!”

So popular has the restaurant become they also have their own range of merchandise.

Read our review of The Queen Inn here.

Find out more about The Queen Inn here