Best Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurants in Cheltenham: A Local's Guide

Cheltenham's vegan and vegetarian scene has quietly become one of the strongest for a town of its size in the UK. The reason is Cheltenham's wider food culture: this is an independent-heavy town with a strong food reputation, and the best kitchens have spent the last few years genuinely thinking about their plant-based menus rather than tacking a token option onto the end. The result is that you can eat vegan or vegetarian in Cheltenham for a week straight without feeling like you're compromising once.

This is a local's guide to the best vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Cheltenham. Dedicated plant-based spots, brunch cafés with serious vegan breakfasts, and (maybe most importantly) the Asian and Indian restaurants that do plant-based cooking so well you'll order it even if you're not vegetarian. It's written for locals working through the scene and for visitors who want more than a supermarket salad.

A quick note before we start. "Vegetarian friendly" means very different things in different restaurants. For this guide, we've prioritised places where the vegan and vegetarian options are a proper part of the menu rather than an afterthought. That's where the real difference is.

Cheltenham's Dedicated Vegan Restaurants

Start with the fully plant-based spots, because these are where you'll find the most creative and confident vegan cooking in Cheltenham.

Vegetus

Vegetus on Winchcombe Street is Cheltenham's most ambitious fully vegan restaurant, and it's been winning over even the most committed carnivores since it opened. The menu draws on Spanish, Moroccan, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Hungarian influences, which sounds like a lot but works because the kitchen knows exactly what it's doing with each tradition. House specialities include the vegan moussaka, the lasagna, and a genuinely excellent baklava that has become one of the better vegan desserts in the county.

It's a small, intimate room and the portions are generous. Book ahead for weekend evenings. Vegetus has built a dedicated following and the good tables go fast.

Best for: Serious vegan dining, Mediterranean flavours, date nights, impressing sceptics.

Planted Community Cafe

Up in Charlton Kings, Planted Community Cafe is a slightly different proposition: a volunteer-run, 100% plant-based café serving breakfast, lunch, coffee and cake from Tuesday to Saturday. It's cosy, local, properly community-focused and puts out genuinely good food at reasonable prices.

The menu changes based on what's available and what the kitchen is in the mood for, which is part of the charm. Expect vegan cooked breakfasts, soups, salads, sandwiches and an excellent selection of cakes. It's exactly the kind of place locals are quietly grateful exists.

Best for: Weekday lunches, coffee and cake, supporting a community project, discovering Charlton Kings.

The Best Vegan-Friendly Brunch Spots in Cheltenham

If brunch is the plan, Cheltenham has several cafés where the vegan options are a proper part of the menu rather than a reluctant substitute.

WoodKraft

WoodKraft is a family-owned independent café in the heart of the town centre and one of the best all-round brunch options in Cheltenham, vegan or otherwise. The menu is built around breakfast, brunch and lunch and genuinely caters for vegetarian and vegan diets rather than simply offering a veggie version of the meat dishes.

Vegan breakfast highlights include avocado rostis and a proper vegan fry-up, while lunch runs to roasted beetroot salads, BBQ jackfruit wraps and excellent small plates. The room is warm, relaxed and the right kind of busy, and it's one of the few spots in town that consistently feels like the chef actually cares about the plant-based side of the menu.

Best for: Vegan brunches, weekend breakfasts, reliable lunches, group-friendly eating.

Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party on Clarence Street is a family-owned café with a bigger footprint (they have several UK locations) that runs a genuinely strong vegan and vegetarian menu. Breakfasts, burgers, salads and baked goods are made from sustainably sourced ingredients, and the vegan options are properly considered rather than an afterthought.

It's a solid, reliable brunch option, especially useful for groups with mixed diets because everyone will find something they like.

Best for: Mixed-diet groups, sustainable sourcing, easy walk-ins, family brunch.

The Find

The Find is a small, friendly independent café with a properly inclusive approach to drinks and food. Vegan coffee drinkers have oat and soy alternatives as standard, the smoothies and herbal teas are well chosen, and the atmosphere makes it an easy drop-in for a quick coffee, a light brunch or a relaxed catch-up.

Best for: Coffee with plant-based milks, relaxed brunches, a friendly local café vibe.

Where to Eat Vegan Asian Food in Cheltenham

This is where Cheltenham's vegan scene really sings. Asian cuisines often cook vegan food beautifully by default (particularly Sri Lankan, Vietnamese and many regional Chinese traditions), and the town has a handful of restaurants that take this seriously.

The Coconut Tree

The Coconut Tree serves Sri Lankan small plates in a bright, informal setting, and it has quietly become one of the best places in town for vegan eating. A lot of Sri Lankan food is naturally vegan (coconut milk replaces dairy in many traditional dishes), and the vegan menu here is extensive rather than token: pineapple curry, cashew nut curry, hoppers, dhal, sambols and plenty more.

Order a selection of small plates, share everything, and don't skip the cashew curry. Even the most committed meat-eaters usually end the meal with a new favourite dish.

Best for: Sharing with friends, serious vegan flavour, a proper date night, introductions to Sri Lankan food.

Pho Cheltenham

Pho is a Vietnamese restaurant with an unusually high vegan and gluten-free count on the menu. Around a third of the menu is vegan, and nearly everything is gluten-free, which makes it one of the easiest Cheltenham restaurants for mixed-diet groups. The pho itself (unsurprisingly) is the headline dish, but the summer rolls, vermicelli bowls and curries are just as good.

Best for: Vegan and gluten-free diners, Vietnamese noodle soups, lighter lunches, quick dinners.

KIBOU Japanese Restaurant and Bar

KIBOU is an award-winning ramen and sushi bar with a properly considered vegan offering. The house highlight is the Yasai Volcano Roll, a vegan sushi roll with red pepper and avocado, fried in tempura batter, that has become something of a cult order. Beyond the volcano roll, the wider menu includes vegan ramen, vegetable sushi sets and Japanese small plates that hold their own against the meat and fish options.

Best for: Japanese food, sushi date nights, vegan sushi that isn't just cucumber, cocktails with dinner.

Nagomi

Nagomi is one of the newer arrivals on the Cheltenham food scene, serving a mix of Korean and Japanese dishes with a surprisingly strong vegan selection. Highlights include the vegan Korean corn dogs and vegan kimchi, and the menu rewards diners who want to try something less familiar. A good choice if you've worked your way through the more obvious vegan spots and want something different.

Best for: Korean street food, vegan kimchi, a slightly adventurous Friday night.

Vegan Indian Food in Cheltenham

Indian cuisine is another obvious strength for plant-based dining, and Cheltenham has three Indian restaurants that handle vegan and vegetarian cooking with genuine care.

Mowgli

Mowgli in the Brewery Quarter focuses on authentic Indian street food and home cooking, and has quickly become one of the town's most popular Indian options. The vegan menu is extensive, with dishes like the Holy Chow (spiced chickpea, potato, spinach, ginger and mango) genuinely standing out as some of the best vegan eating in Cheltenham.

The small-plates format makes Mowgli particularly good for groups. Order widely, share everything, and don't skip the chat bombs.

Best for: Indian street food, groups and sharing, a lively weekend dinner.

The Mahal

The Mahal is Cheltenham's more refined Indian option, with a beautiful room, attentive service and progressive dishes that combine Indian cooking with British ingredients. The headline vegan feature is their seven-course vegan tasting menu, which is genuinely one of the more ambitious plant-based tasting menus in the county.

It's the right pick for a proper dinner occasion: anniversaries, milestone birthdays, or the kind of evening where you want a plant-based tasting menu to show off what vegan cooking can actually do.

Best for: Vegan tasting menus, special occasions, grown-up Indian dining.

The Swan

The Swan's vegan menu leans progressive and inventive, with dishes like tandoori soya chaaps, pani puri and smoked jackfruit curry. It's the right Indian option for diners who want something different from the usual curry house format, and the vegan options are developed enough to order confidently without studying the menu twice.

Best for: Creative vegan Indian cooking, relaxed dinners, something different from the local curry house.

Is Cheltenham Vegan-Friendly?

Yes, unusually so for a town of its size. Cheltenham now has two fully vegan restaurants (Vegetus and Planted Community Cafe), several cafés with proper vegan brunch menus (WoodKraft, Boston Tea Party, The Find), strong Asian and Indian options where vegan cooking is part of the core identity, and wider vegan options across most of the town's best restaurants. You can eat vegan here comfortably across a full weekend without feeling like you're working around the menu.

The strength is the variety rather than the number. Cheltenham might not have 30 vegan options, but the 10 to 12 really good ones cover nearly every style of cuisine you'd actually want to eat.

What's the Best Vegan Lunch in Cheltenham?

If you want a single recommendation: WoodKraft for brunch, The Coconut Tree for a long lunch, or Vegetus for a proper sit-down meal. WoodKraft is the easy all-rounder, The Coconut Tree is the most flavour-led experience, and Vegetus is where the kitchen is doing the most ambitious vegan cooking in town.

For a quicker weekday lunch, Pho Cheltenham is hard to beat for value, speed and quality. And for a takeaway day, Mowgli's small-plate portions travel well if you're eating at your desk or in the park.

Where to Go Next

Cheltenham's vegan scene is at its best when you treat it as an ongoing discovery rather than a single visit. Start with the obvious stops (Vegetus, WoodKraft, The Coconut Tree), then work your way through the Asian and Indian options, then seek out newer arrivals like Nagomi. You'll quickly build a list of favourites that changes how you think about eating in this town.

For more local food recommendations, our full guide to Cheltenham's best restaurants covers the wider scene, and our guide to the best brunch in Cheltenham goes deeper on the morning-to-midday options, many of which handle vegan and vegetarian diners beautifully. If you're spending a weekend in town, pair these with a wander around Montpellier for independent cafés, wine bars and small plates. You'll eat very well.