You are only going to vegan shops then?

Seriously this is the sort of shit which makes me not want to be vegan.

Fuck Inspiral

These are two different businesses operating from the same address.

Does it really bother you that there is, according to you, a poster advertising river cruises and that meat is served as part of the meals on board that boat?

If it was me, I would simply not go on the river cruises which serve meat-contaminated meals and avoid the problem that way.

But I'm sure that you personally don't always eat in places which are 100% vegan, do you?

I can't really see a problem here....

why you so sure of that, confused?

some people really do put effort into living by their principles - shock!

anyway in london it aint exactly hard, thanks to various businesses and organisations run as vegan projects (usually by vegans). it is entirely possible to only shop vegan and many do.

its lack of imagination similar to yours leads to situations like this where people imagine vegans will continue to support businesses that arent vegan and then they learn to their cost that we wont. dont have to, dont want to.

gone are the days when we have one option on a menu and are sposed to feel grateful for that as we eat our jacket potato with beans while surrounded by dead flesh and by-products of torture.

Diferent buisness. Give these guys a break..

the op has alterior motive..... something personal perhaps?

They are about profit and that's it...when somewhere says they are vegan cafe then they shouldn't have a meat menu stuck to the door or advertised in the window. It's not two different businesses...they work together.

How you can say that it's "personal" is silly...they claim to be a vegan cafe and they are not.

Confused Vegan you are clearly very confused. Inspiral Lounge is a brilliant place, promoting health and postivity. That's a seperate business. Save your negative energy for the real scum.

"they claim to be a vegan cafe and they are not"

Well the cafe only serves vegan food and drinks, but i have never seen any reference or claims to be in favour of animal rights, usually environmental or health based arguments for their food. If they have a another bussiness that does sell meat then that is dissapointing for me, but this does all sound very personal.

I agree mods please delete this.

Inspiral is not a brilliant place that promotes health and vitality. Most of the poor [and poorly paid] staff who work there are really nice, so to you, this is not your fault....
The place is run by people who made out they were a community venture as a way of making a lot of money then crapped on the communities that made them rich.
They say they are a vegan cafe and advertise MEAT on the door.
Just becuase you don't like what people are saying about Inspiral Lounge [or happen to be Dominic writing as Ruby] doesn't mean that what people have said should be deleted.

There are genuine and genuinely brilliant vegan and veggie places in Camden such as the Ha! Ha! Veggie Bar that has been there for years, is run by excellent and genuinely nice people, sells food that is healthy, freshly made and cooked in front of you, is a People's place and while it is a take away it does have seating just around the back. It is also and always has been reasonably priced and does discount for people who work on the market and regular resident customers.

As for confusing ..cacao is just cocoa and dosen't need to cost £15 for a bar....I suppose Inspiral is OK if you live on a trustafarian fund...unfortunately the people who run it [themselves Trustafarians] have made an awful lot of dosh out of genuinely poor people in London from running community projects when they were running the Synergy Project which they did to simply to make a profit. Inspiral and Synergy were originally marketed as a community places but never were. Dominic has his head up his arse and isn't a very nice person, in fact he is mercenary and profit oriented and has given nothing back to the political groups and communities [Camberwell and Camden] that have lined his pockets.

Now they advertise dead cow on the door and in the window of what is really just another expensive trendy nightclub masquerading as a vegan community cafe. There is nothing community about this place and there never was.

Scotch Beef isn't vegan..it's MEAT! MEAT isn't vegan!

They have therefore promoted themselves as a political, AR and ECO conscious place. They say they are a Vegan shop and cafe but selling meat and advertising it on the door and in the window isn't on and constitues false advertising. If it was a personal spat between them and a customer then that's one thing, but even then they will still have to explain the meat thing....I think most AR people who have paid to get in to watch AR films etc will question the ethics behind Inspiral and will want to know why they sell meat.

If the thread is deleted we will go and get the meat menu from there, upload it and re post this.

as pointed out above, this is not the same business.

...saying you won't go to Inspiral because theres a Boat Restaraunt next to it that has meat on its menu is like saying you won't go to Pogos because theres a chicken shop around the corner....

seriously though...

Inspiral Lounge was one of the venues we used. Indymedia were using it but they wanted to take a break, we were contacted, and took over the Monday night. It has a great inhouse soundsystem and multiple projectors so everyone could comfortably see and hear. We allways had free reign to show whatever and say whatever, so a lot of people (who wouldn't go to our other nights at places like Ramparts or the Library House) got to see some pretty uncompromising material, engage in debates and meet people involved in direct action along with the advertised feature Documentaries... as for the prices.... its goes half price at 10pm.... something we were all very aware of.

Also just to say.. the AR films along with all the other films Cinema Libre screened had no entry fee and we gave all our profits from bums on seats (£1 a head) to the Musicians and campaigns involved in the nights... but that was of our own volition

if you have a REAL issue with the Inspiral Lounge I really suggest you dont approach it through non stories like this... you'll convince no one, especially people who know the difference between facts and slander

"I know maaaan.... i was there"

Cinema Libre

I won't go there!

Heaven, what bollocks do you read on Indymedia nowadays! What comes next? Are you organising pickets at all social centres where people put milk in their tea? Is LARC vegan? Was Rampart vegan? Do you all have nothing more important to do?

The cafe doesn't claim to be fully vegan as they serve cows milk with coffees. I think it's a good cafe with good raw options. I didn't notice the boat menu when I was there. I'm going to have to look into this.

Half of this has come from an effort by big comapanies, helped along by people like Kate wood to sell stuff as "superfoods" when they are just..well, food.

Wow - its taken me a while to stumble across this thread about our work and myself here and I can't help but feel saddened by the vitriol and anger that speaks so clearly through the words of 'confused'. In the entire time no one has ever invited me to comment or participate which I would have liked to have done with clarity at the time. I shall try and answer some of the points raised now:
Firstly inSpiral is a vegan food venue though we still serve cow's milk in hot drinks. Our landlord is Walker's Quay and sadly we don't have any control about their menu choices. We are fortunate enough to be able to work from such a prominent position where we reach many people, what goes on around us and even in our own premises is not in our control. The meat is however only served, cooked and stored on the boat and always separate from our own production.
Why we would be so incredulously hollow to proclaim ourselves a vegan venue and then serve meat downstairs escapes me - but anger can easily distort the view I guess...
The reason why we are not able to showcase as many films and hold talks and workshops these days is because we have lost the downstairs area - again to our landlord - who only gave us use of it during the first year and a bit. he has now reclaimed it as an office which means that the upstairs area is all we have to serve out guests.
As far as Synergy Project and inSpiral being run by the same people goes? That is equally not true. I was one of the two core Directors of the Synergy Project for many years but had stepped back about a year before it stopped to set up this new organization as I was inspired to take some of the essence of alternative (not angry) culture into a more mainstream environment.
Synergy Being a money driven organization? It makes me laugh if it wasn't such a sad misconception: Synergy was run for 3-4 years on nothing but passion and goodwill by hundreds of people. Towards the last 2 year it finally made some money beyond paying people a handshake for their hard work. A lot of that was put into the Synergy Center - an ambitious project in Camberwell that aimed to engage local youth with the core of alternative culture.
"InSpiral being soley money driven and capitalist?" - I invite EVERYONE to come and look at our books - we have no secrets, not about how much money we make, nor about how much money I make myself. Put it like that. I started the company with VERY little money and a lot of guts, racked up a debt of about £150K in the first 2 years along and only survived with a lot of savvy and good will. We are now finally making a small profit which is eaten up every week by the payback on our debt and a will to grow and improve. Even know our financial future is uncertain. The amount of work that has gone into inSpiral and continues to go into inSpiral is tremendous and it fills me with awe how much people around me are contributing for what are effectively very low wages. We are driven by passion to make a positive impact on society - though we don't come from an angry and judgmental place - we try and be inclusive and open minded. Yes we would like to do MUCH more but we are hoping one day to get a bigger venue that will allow us to put on a much more vibrant and dynamic mix of activities.
Now whoever you are hiding behind the anonymity of the internet - that I don't know - but to label me a 'right wing conservative' truly shows how little you either know about me or rather how deep your upset lies to allow you to use this media to slander and distort reality. I truly hope that you are in a more peaceful place now and if you ever dare I'd love to meet up over a cup of tea and put it all on a table. Maybe we can make some progress for all of our sake
Let's stay real and let's have a go at the people that are actually messing this world up. Not those in our own wider community who are ACTUALLY trying to do something positive...
Dominik