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Going away for a weekend break isn’t always easy when you’re vegan! Find out which UK chain hotels offer the best plant-based options.
Firmdale
Rating: ****
Locations: This boutique hotel chain has eight venues across London, including Soho, Haymarket and Covent Garden.
Menu: The menus vary between hotels so be sure to check their website before booking, but the Ham Yard, Haymarket and Soho venues all have separate vegan à la carte menus with dishes like salt baked turnip, risotto tart, mixed bean curry and roasted aubergine. Ham Yard also offers a dedicated vegan afternoon tea. Vegan-friendly breakfast items include avocado, soya yoghurt and a selection of plant-based milks.
Ambience: Each Firmdale hotel has its own unique character and ambience. Ham Yard boasts quirky décor and a beautiful tree-filled garden, whilst The Soho Hotel is all about upmarket elegance in the heart of the capital.
Look out for: Visit firmdalehotels.com to view the individual menus for each of the hotels. Dishes change with the seasons so may not remain consistent throughout the year. Staffare also happy to alter the breakfast menu dishes to cater for vegan dietary requirements.
Novotel
Rating: ****
Location: This large chain has hotels across the UK, including London, Cardiff, Bristol, Leeds and Liverpool.
Menu: Novotel have recently updated their menu to include a selection of exciting new vegan options, including the Fattoush Salad, Gourmet Vourger, East Asian Wok Bowl and Red Lentil & Chickpea Dahl. Vegan sausages are available at breakfast along with beans, tomato and toast and you can request mushrooms that aren’t cooked in butter. Dairy-free milk is also available on request in the restaurant and in your room.
Ambience: Novotel hotels are perfect for a night away on business or a weekend of city siteseeing. Think bright, stylish and contemporary rooms and friendly staff.
Look out for: Don’t be afraid to ask for dishes to be changed – staffare more than happy to tweak vegetarian dishes on their menu to make them vegan.
Vine
Rating: ****
Locations: Vine manage seven unique hotels across the UK, including Mosborough Hall in Sheffield, Kenwood Hall Hotel & Spa, DoubleTree by Hilton Sheffield Park Hotel and Best Western Cutlers Hotel.
Menu: The chain recently launched new vegan menus for their wedding receptions, which include a choice of fine dining and evening street food, such as vegan hot dogs, burgers and fajitas. A vegan menu is also available for conferences and afternoon teas and for casual diners and hotel guests at each of their seven venues.
Ambience: Each hotel has a very different feel to it. Whirlowbrook Hall in South Yorkshire is a quintessential English manor house, for example, set in beautiful grounds, whilst the Hilton Sheffield Park Hotel is a modern city hotel with great leisure facilities.
Look out for: Be sure to call individual venues before booking to find out what vegan offerings they have available. Visit vinehotels.co.uk/our-hotels to see each of the venues.
Hilton London Bankside
Rating:*****
Location: Whilst the vegan offerings vary throughout the Hilton chain, their London Bankside hotel offers a fully vegan suite – from the menu to the chairs!
Menu: The general hotel menu includes a dedicated vegan menu and a choice of desserts and wines. Inside the vegan suite, you can expect various vegan breakfast options, such as fruit juices, muesli, hummus and vegetables, potato hash, grilled portobello mushroom, avocado and scrambled Quorn and quinoa, as well as lunch and dinner that includes cucumber salad, cauliflower steak and a five-bean dhal.
Ambience: This hotel is all about urban chic, whilst the vegan suite features a headboard made from pineapple leaves, a bamboo floor, seating and cushions made from Pinatex leather (a plant-based leather), organic cotton carpets, a vegan mini bar and luxury vegan bathroom products.
Malmaison 
Rating:*****
Locations: Malmaison have 15 hotels across the UK, including Brighton, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Oxford.
Menu: There’s a vegan menu that’s consistent throughout all of the Malmaison hotels, making it easy to book in the knowledge you will be catered for. Hurrah! It changes seasonally, but expect dishes like minestrone soup, tempura vegetables, pasta, tagine and caramel roasted pineapple – yum! The most recent menu can be viewed online at malmaison.com/food-drink/ brasserie.
Ambience: Expect eclectic décor and a touch of luxury from this chain of boutique hotels. With stylish oversized chandeliers, exposed brickwork and cool, contemporary artwork, you’ll feel like you’re really somewhere special. Glamorous yet relaxed, they’re the perfect place to get away for a romantic night or two.
Look out for: Ask your waiter or bartender about the vegan wines on offer.
