An animal rights group claim that their protest at a Michelin Star restaurant was a success - despite sitting in the bar instead of the restaurant.
Nine members of Animal Rebellion entered House of Tides in Newcastle when it opened at around 6pm on Saturday evening. The fine dining restaurant, run by chef Kenny Atkinson, is located on the Quayside.
The group aimed to occupy tables in the venue which has been reserved for diners. They sat at tables with mock menus outlining the group's demands for a plant-based future.
However the manager of House of Tides said they sat downstairs in the bar area instead of the restaurant, which is located upstairs. Therefore the protest had no impact on their restaurant service.
House of Tides contacted police when the protesters failed to leave the premises. Officers arrived and the group were moved on after around 45 minutes.
A spokesperson for Animal Rebellion said: "The conversation around the climate, animal, and cost-of-living crises is exactly why this action has been a success, alongside the other sit ins. It’s forced everyone to have this critical dialogue."
House of Tides serves up a tasting menu for £130 per person and do not cater to vegans. Animal Rebellion claim the menu is "meat-heavy" and includes many of the foods with the largest carbon and land-use, footprints, such as lamb.
The mock menus, created by Animal Rebellion, said: "This menu would spare the lives of 1.2 billion land animals and more than three million sea animals in the UK every year.
"This menu would eliminate 70% of food-related emissions and draw down 150 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere. This menu would provide more than enough affordable, nutritious plant-based food to feed everyone."
Conor Goulding, manager at House of Tides, told Chronicle Live that it was "mildly inconvenient" that they had to call the police but that it had no affect on them at all.
He said: "They obviously thought they wee causing a massive inconvenience. They didn't realise that our restaurant was upstairs. We haven't been affected at all by it. They sat in our bar area for about 45 minutes.
"We decided to ring the police because they wouldn't leave. None of them got arrested. They left before they got that point."
Mr Goulding said the restaurant offers a vegetarian menu but they don't cater for vegans as they use a lot of classic French cooking, which includes butter and cream.
He added: "I think with all of this extreme protests there's a conversation to be had but by targeting very small businesses such as ourselves - an independent business - is the wrong way to go about it.
"They should be targeting huge companies like KFC and McDonalds which are using large farms. We use small local producers who take very good care of their animals. Our restaurant serves between 30 and 40 people."
The protest took place as part of Animal Rebellion's 'national day of action'. They carried out protests in a number of venues including Heston Blumenthal's restaurant in Knightsbridge, London.
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