Portsmouth is getting its very own Vegan Festival; it’s coming to Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday 25th February
2017. In advance of the event, we caught up with festival organiser, Victoria Bryceson, to learn more…

What can we expect to find at the new Portsmouth Vegan Festival?

There are going to be over 100 stalls within Portsmouth Guildhall. Ten of those will be hot caterers
offering food from around the world – like Italian, Chinese, English, Malaysian and African.

We’ll have lots of food to take away – cakes, chocolate, raw food, cheese and free samples – along with
all day cookery demos and talks. You’ll be able to buy clothing, footwear, jewellery, gifts and
homeware. There’s even going to be a vegan body building competition!

Why Portsmouth?

I’ve organised a lot of vegan festivals before, all over the UK in places like Leeds, Manchester,
Glasgow, London, Brighton, Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham.

Viva, the charity that I work for held a popular one here in 2015. I felt like Portsmouth had been a
little left behind and wanted to start up a regular festival here.

I live in Cumbria but I love coming down south. Where I live I have to travel 50 miles to find a decent
vegan eatery and the further south I travel, the more I find! I’m looking forward to seeing what
Portsmouth has to offer.

What else do you do in your spare time?

For the last three years I’ve been running a charity called Miracle’s Mission for stray cats and dogs – we have just set up our first major
project in Bourneo. Many of them have bad injuries, are covered in ticks or have mange. I help get them
back to health, get them neutered and rehome them, all the while educating people on how to treat
animals properly. In fact, my vegan events are 100% not-for-profit and the proceeds from the Portsmouth
Vegan Festival will go to Miracle’s Mission.

I’m not vegan, can I come?      

Of course you can! I’m proud to say that we welcome everyone at our events – we just want lots of people
to be curious and we’re sure they’ll learn loads about veganism, while trying some tasty food and
picking up some lovely products.

Event information

Saturday 25th February, 11am – 5pm. £3 entry fee, payable on the day on the door. Under 16’s free. VIP
tickets including fast track entry and a goody bag full of vegan products, samples and money off coupons
are £13 available in advance from veganeventsuk@gmail.com (100 only).  For more information, check
out the event on Facebook.