First of Multiple High-End Restaurant Sit-Ins Expected from the Group this Evening as part of National Day of Action
On 17/12/22, at just after 17:00, 9 supporters of Animal Rebellion entered ‘House of Tides’, a Michelin Star Restaurant in Newcastle.
The smartly-dressed protesters occupied tables reserved for customers of the high-end venue that serves a tasting menu starting at £130 per person.
Animal Rebellion are calling for a plant-based food system and mass-rewilding.
This action marks the first of many as the group declares a national day of action, with further sit-ins expected in London.
The group says these actions will continue until the government takes meaningful action to address the climate and ecological emergencies, and eliminate animal suffering.
Newcastle’s Michelin Star ‘House of Tides’ Restaurant has been disrupted by 9 supporters of Animal Rebellion. The high-end restaurant serves dinners starting at a price of £130 per person. The venue, which refuses to cater to vegans [1], has a meat-heavy menu including many of the foods with the largest carbon, and land-use, footprints, such as lamb [2].
Smartly-dressed supporters of Animal Rebellion can be seen occupying tables reserved for customers and holding ‘mock menus’ outlining the group’s core demands stylised as a starter, main, and dessert.
The Newcastle action is the first of multiple high-end restaurant sit-ins expected this evening in cities across England, including London, as the group declares a national day of action.
Robert Gordon, 26, a former animal care assistant, said:
“This action is the first of multiple high-end restaurant sit-ins that will be happening across England this evening. We are targeting these venues in sustained action as they are symbolic of a broken system.
“Households in the North-East have the lowest disposable income when compared to other regions in the UK. Yet ‘House of Tides’ continues to profit off a wealthy minority by serving meat, dairy, and fish at the expense of our natural world.
“Instead, luxury restaurants like these should be leading by example and transitioning to serving sustainable, plant-based foods. A plant-based food system could eliminate the suffering of the one billion farmed animals, and many more fish, killed in the UK each year. This would also free-up space for crucial rewilding to draw-down carbon from the atmosphere and restore our countryside, coasts, and precious wildlife”.
Two weeks ago, Animal Rebellion targeted Gordon Ramsay’s 3 Michelin Star Restaurant in Chelsea with a similar protest resulting in the restaurant closing for the evening [3]. A later action at a Michelin-star restaurant in Manchester ended in the arrest of 14 peaceful protestors [4]. The group claims the disruption to these high-end restaurants will end when the Government takes meaningful action to prevent climate breakdown and animal suffering.
These actions come as part of Animal Rebellion’s demands for a plant-based future, which were announced on Monday 23rd of May [5]. The animal and climate justice group is urging wholesale governmental and societal support for farmers and fishing communities to transition to a plant-based food system and programme of rewilding that will secure a future for generations to come.
Animal Rebellion is a mass movement using nonviolent civil disobedience to call for a just, sustainable plant-based food system.
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Notes To Editors:
[4] https://www.animalrising.org/post/michelin-star-manchester-restaurant-mana-occupied-by-supporters-of-animal-rebellion [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOq2Jqqga9E&t=5s