London Animal Free Festival - A New Vegan Festival

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In 2016 a new vegan festival in London was organised by Farplace Animal Rescue. Stalls, comedy, talks and more. Called the London Animal Free Festival, it took place at the Camden Centre, opposite Kings Cross St Pancras in Central London on Saturday 4th June 2016.
This was the London Animal Free Festival's website for several years.

Farplace Animal Rescue is a UK animal rescue that help specialist cases like FIV+ cats and has helped many such cases in need from across the UK including London. All the profits from the festival directly help animals.

The London Animal Free Festival has changed its name to the Greater London Vegan Festival whose current website is found at www.greaterlondonveganfestival.com/.

Venue Address
Camden Centre
Judd Street,
Kings Cross,
London,
WC1H 9JE
P: 020 7974 5633

 

The second London Animal Free Festival, a vegan festival organised by Farplace Animal Rescue, returns to the CAMDEN CENTRE, opposite Kings Cross St Pancras, on Sunday 30th October 2016 10.30-5pm. The event will feature many stalls, beer, food, talks galore

Note: if you missed this vegan foodie festival this year, be sure to keep your eyes out for it next year. The foods are really tasty and the entertainment fun. But the best part of the festival is knowing that all the profits going directly to help animals. When I was visiting relatives in London, they took me, along with all my cousins, to the 1st year the festival was held. When I returned home to the Charleston, South Carolina I mentioned the festival to some of my friends who work in the food industry. They loved the concept of a food festival with proceeds going to an animal rescue shelter or some other animal organization, but they all agreed that it would not be vegan. Seafood and Southern cooking is just too important here in Charleston. One evening while I was doing research for our food / animal festival I became distracted when I came across an online designer dog bed store. Rather than selling the typical dog beds you find on many other sites, they sold only round dog beds in three different sizes. But what was most intriguing was the type of fabric that covered the beds. These were not your typical designs. They were actual drapery / upholstery designer fabrics that would be right at home in an upscale livingroom. I mean really, who would think of making a dog bed from high end fabric with a blue and white toile design or a landscape chinoise fabric? Well, this site, Goodnight Dog, does. I stopped right there and bought a large round dog bed, they really look like decorator large floor pillows, for my Louisiana Catahoula dog, whom I call Leo. Upon taking care of this most fortunate distraction I returned to my search for the perfect space where we could hold our Charleston FooD Festival with all proceeds going to the Charleston Animal Society. I hope our festival will be as successful as the London Animal Free Festival, now called the Greater London Vegan Festival, in case you are interested in learning more about it.

 

 

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2016

Welcome to London Animal Free Festival LAFF

The London Animal Free Festival is a new vegan festival event for London taking place at the Camden Centre, opposite Kings Cross St Pancras in Central London on Saturday 4th June 2016. We look forward to welcoming you to the event.

Get involved

There are lots of ways to get involved in the festival - just use the simple form below and we will be in touch with you.

The Festival is organised by Farplace Animal Rescue. We are a UK animal rescue who help specialist cases like FIV+ cats and have helped many such cases in need from across the UK including London. All the profits from the festival will directly help animals.

The Event Programme

A huge selection of great stalls – food, campaigns, drinks, samples, toiletries, charities and much more – enjoy the stalls. Hot food and the bar are in the small hall. There are two large balconies for seating where you can relax with food and drink and watch the bands – please try not to make too much mess in the balconies.

Live music is playing on stage all day – we are very grateful to all our artists for their support.

11.00am to 11.30am The Chancers

11.50am to 12.20pm Kate Epps

12.40pm to 1.10pm White Dog

2.20pm to 2.50pm Jacqline Mossberg

3.10pm to 3.40pm Brady

3.45pm-4.30pm Eagertongue spoken word artist

 

PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITY FOR TALKS AND FILM ROOM

11-11.45 Colleen McDuling – Emotional Lives, Intelligence and Sentience of Animals

11.45-12.30 Divine Detox – Juliette’s Kitchen

12.30-1.15 Meditation: Finding a Deeper Meaning in Life – Dada Jyotirupananda

1.15-2 Farrah Rainfly - Cooking Demo, The simple Power of Food for Health from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

2-2.45 Ruth Hawe – Vegantopia – co-creating the future – asked re time

2.45-3.30 Rebuilding the Gut – Juliette’s Kitchen

3.30-5pm Cowspiracy Film

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a groundbreaking feature-length environmental documentary following intrepid filmmaker Kip Andersen as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today – and investigates why the world’s leading environmental organisations are too afraid to talk about it.
Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution, is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, and is a primary driver of rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean “dead zones,” and virtually every other environmental ill. Yet it goes on, almost entirely unchallenged.

 

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Our vegan events team are here to help you in advance and on the day of the events.

Farplace Vegan Events Office, 122 Station Road, Wallsend, NE28 8QS
Tel 0191 263 4736
Email festivals@farplace.org.uk

Vegan Events Team at Farplace Animal Rescue

This is our events team of Kerri, Gareth and Rachael

Kerri is our ever smiling energetic vegan events manager with a personality that wants you to have a great event every time. This Geordie lass with the big smile joined the Farplace team in 2016 and has exciting plans for our future events. Kerri promotes a healthy vegan lifestyle and has helped to establish Vegan Runners as the fastest-growing athletics club in the U.K. She is still very active in Vegan Runners both as a runner and chairperson. Always thinking of ways to improve the events, she will go the extra mile for every visitor, stall holder and sponsor. She is allergic to her spaniel so resigned to forever sneezing due to her new family member. She loves elephants and bears and she likes wine, pizza and Indian food. She watches action and cheesy films to unwind and always loves to laugh and have fun.

Gareth is co-founder and Chair of the Trustees of Farplace Animal Rescue and creator of all of the festivals, so you have him to blame for all the events. He shares his home with 150+ rescued animals needing new homes and 600+ board games, and is a proud ageing hippie and geek extraordinaire. He thinks ALL sci fi is amazing, from Star Trek to Lexx, Battlestar Galactica to Babylon 5. He has been vegan for 9 years for the animals and created the Talk To Me I’m Vegan Campaign. His favourite animal is the humpback whale and he loves vegan junk food FAR too much. Carcasonne and Small World are his favourite board games and Brass Castle beer is his favourite drink. Look for the loudest pair of trousers at a festival and that is usually Gareth. He thinks EVERY stall holder, sponsor, speaker, volunteer and visitor to all the festivals are amazing people because you all are.

Rachael is our amazingly organised Vegan Events Manager. Her talents lie in procedures and systems to get everything ship shape. Making sure every event is photographed and captured so that no sponsor or stall holder misses out on any chance for publicity. Her passion in conservation is demonstrated through her great campaign ideas for spreading the vegan message. Rachael has a busy social calendar to keep up with her energetic personality and love for dancing! After graduating in Biology from the University of Leeds she went on a 4 month solo backpacking trip around SE Asia. Her most amazing animal encounter was seeing a Tapir while trekking in Malaysian rainforest. If she could only eat one food for the rest of her life it would be mashed potatoes. In her spare time she enjoys karate, yoga and watching anime.

We are all there to help – catch any of us at any of the festivals and we will do everything we can to help you.

 

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Vegan News

BOGOF and VIP tickets for October now on saleh2

July 13th, 2016

Buy one get one free and VIP tickets are now on sale for October 30th London Animal Free Festival. Both are strictly limited in availability and available at www.londonanimalfreefestival.com/tickets.html BOGOF tickets cost just £5 to admit two people to the festival

 

Hot food stalls now sold out for Octoberh2

July 13th, 2016

Hot food trader stalls are already sold out for October 30th for LAFF2. We still have room for non hot food stalls. Just email sophie@farplace.org.uk for more details.

 

Advance Tickets for 2016 sold outh2

May 31st, 2016

Advance tickets are now sold out for this Saturday. We have a generous amount of on-the-day tickets so do just turn up between 10.30 and 4.30 for on-the-day admission.

 

VIP tickets now sold outh2

May 25th, 2016

VIP tickets are now fully sold out. We are leaving the BOGOF offer until the end of the Bank Holiday weekend but from Tuesday only standard tickets will be available. Remember you can always turn up on the day for tickets.

 

Viva La Vegan and their ethical apparel and bags will be at LAFFh2

March 20th, 2016

Viva La Vegan is an upbeat, on trend vegan statement wear brand of apparel and accessories. Born from their love for animals, they want to positively promote veganism & do their bit for our planet while looking good.

 

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PRESS RELEASE 2016

 

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PRESS RELEASE 2017

 

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EVENT PROGRAMME FOR THE GREATER LONDON VEGAN FESTIVAL on 10th June 2017

In the talks room at the back of the main hall in the talks and films room.

11:00AM-11:30AM – Hannah Wilcox
A talk abiut how you can make a difference as one person if you have faith in your beliefs and are willing to put yourself out there

11:45AM-12:45AM – Alex Lockwood – How to turn a man vegan in 45 minutes
While many of the biggest health problems and social factors affecting men’s lives can be significantly improved by moving to a plant-based diet. So it’s lucky that many more men are now seeing the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

13:00PM-14:00PM – Dada – Meditation: Finding a deeper meaning in life

14:10PM-15:00PM – Dominica Roszko – Vegan energy boosters – a talk about ways that people can stay energised and happy with natural foods

15.30PM Film: Cowspiracy, The Sustainability Secret
A groundbreaking feature-length environmental documentary following intrepid filmmaker Kip Andersen as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today – and investigates why the world’s leading environmental organisations are too afraid to talk about it.
Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution, is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, and is a primary driver of rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean “dead zones,” and virtually every other environmental ill. Yet it goes on, almost entirely unchallenged.

 

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More Background On LondonAnimalFreeFestival.com

 

The Origins of the London Animal Free Festival

LondonAnimalFreeFestival.com served as the digital home for the London Animal Free Festival, a pioneering vegan event launched in 2016 by Farplace Animal Rescue, a UK-based charity focused on rehabilitating hard-to-home animals such as FIV-positive cats. The festival was conceived at a time when veganism was accelerating rapidly in the UK but had not yet reached the mainstream popularity it enjoys today. Its creation represented both a cultural moment and a strategic effort by Farplace to raise funds for its rescue operations while advancing a compassionate, plant-focused lifestyle.

The first event took place on Saturday, June 4, 2016 at the Camden Centre, a well-known historic venue located directly opposite Kings Cross St Pancras—one of London’s busiest and most accessible transport hubs. This central location played a major role in the festival’s early success, allowing both Londoners and visitors traveling into the city to attend effortlessly. The festival quickly became known not only for its food and stalls but for its lively atmosphere, volunteer-driven operation, and an unusually transparent commitment to donating all profits directly to animal welfare.

The festival’s website—LondonAnimalFreeFestival.com—functioned as a hub for information, updates, vendor outreach, programming schedules, press releases, ticketing, and organizational details. For several years, it documented the evolution of the event, the expanding vegan community, and the behind-the-scenes personalities responsible for coordinating the festival’s growth.

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Farplace Animal Rescue: The Organization Behind the Festival

Farplace Animal Rescue’s involvement was central to the festival’s identity. Unlike many vegan festivals that are purely commercial or lifestyle-oriented, this event was explicitly philanthropic. Farplace is known for:

• Rescuing animals with complex medical needs

• Operating multiple charity shops across the UK

• Running vegan festivals nationwide to fund rescue activities

• Building a close-knit community of vegan advocates, runners, volunteers, and supporters

The charity’s approach to events is unusual and deeply personal. Instead of remaining anonymous or institutional, Farplace introduces its vegan events team by name and personality. Attendees got to know:

• Kerri, an energetic events manager and vegan runner with a passion for creating welcoming experiences

• Gareth, the festival’s creator, an enthusiastic “geek extraordinaire” deeply involved in the vegan movement and animal rescue

• Rachael, an organized and detail-oriented events coordinator focused on logistics, photography, and conservation messaging

This personalized organizational structure contributed significantly to the festival’s character—attendees often described it as approachable, friendly, and rooted in genuine activism rather than commercial trendiness.

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Location and Accessibility

The Camden Centre in London’s Kings Cross area was fundamental to the festival’s success. Its key characteristics included:

• Immediate proximity to Kings Cross St Pancras, one of the busiest rail stations in Europe

• Multiple transit connections including six Underground lines, national rail services, and Eurostar

• A large main hall with balconies, ideal for combining food stalls, seating, and live music

• A smaller hall and side rooms, used for talks, workshops, and film screenings

This venue enabled a dynamic, multi-room event program and allowed comfortable movement for high visitor turnout. The balconies overlooking the main hall became a defining feature; attendees frequently used them as quiet zones to enjoy meals or listen to live performers.

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Goals and Mission of the Festival

The London Animal Free Festival had a clear mission—one that blended animal advocacy, compassionate living, and ethical consumption. Its goals included:

• Showcasing the diversity of vegan food and products

• Providing a platform for ethical brands and small vegan businesses

• Offering educational content through talks, workshops, and films

• Building a supportive environment for those exploring veganism

• Raising funds for Farplace Animal Rescue’s lifesaving operations

• Connecting activists, charities, and community groups

Rather than focusing solely on food, the festival promoted a holistic view of veganism that included art, culture, science, philosophy, health, and environmental sustainability. This broad approach helped the event appeal to both committed vegans and curious newcomers.

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Festival Programming and Activities

A Vibrant Marketplace of Vegan Stalls

Visitors encountered dozens of stalls featuring:

• Hot food such as burgers, hot dogs, curries, and bowls

• Desserts, cakes, pastries, and confections

• Plant-based cheeses

• Toiletries and cruelty-free beauty products

• Charities and campaign groups

• Vegan apparel and accessories

• Sample stands and product demonstrations

A notable highlight in early years was the presence of Vegan Sweet Tooth, known for lush cakes with intricate decoration and creative flavor combinations. Brands such as Viva La Vegan also contributed to the festival’s upbeat and stylish vibe.

Live Music and Entertainment

The festival incorporated a full day of live music on its central stage. Performers during the 2016 festival included:

• The Chancers

• Kate Epps

• White Dog

• Jacqline Mossberg

• Brady

• Eagertongue (spoken word performance)

The combination of food stalls, elevated balconies, and constant musical performances created an atmosphere more reminiscent of a cultural fair than a typical market-style event.

Talks, Workshops, and Educational Sessions

The festival featured a robust schedule of educational content. Sessions included:

• Emotional intelligence and sentience of animals

• Plant-based cooking demonstrations

• Meditation workshops

• Gut health and nutrition

• Future-focused veganism discussions

• Environmental and sustainability topics

Speakers offered practical, philosophical, and scientific insights, appealing to a wide variety of interests within the vegan community.

Film Screenings

The festival showcased environmental documentaries, most prominently:

• Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

This film, which explores the environmental impact of animal agriculture, played a major role in shaping public discourse on veganism during the mid-2010s. Its inclusion helped contextualize the festival within larger global sustainability movements.

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The Second Festival and Growing Demand

The second London Animal Free Festival took place on Sunday, October 30, 2016, also at the Camden Centre. By this point, demand had grown so significantly that:

• Hot food vendor slots sold out well in advance

• VIP tickets sold out early

• Advance tickets for general admission sold out before the event

• Special offers such as “Buy One Get One Free” were introduced to accommodate enthusiastic attendance

The strong turnout demonstrated that the festival had successfully captured the growing public interest in plant-based living. It also highlighted London’s rapidly expanding vegan community at a time when vegan restaurants, markets, and brands were beginning to multiply across the city.

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Press and Media Coverage

The festival garnered attention from vegan-focused media outlets, lifestyle publications, bloggers, and influencers. One notable example was a review published in Vilda Magazine, which described:

• Rows of spectacular vegan cakes

• A vibrant mixture of food, beauty, fashion, and activism

• The sense of community and togetherness

• The abundance of modern plant-based products

• The festival as “a beautiful celebration of the advances of the plant-based movement”

Such press coverage amplified the festival’s reputation beyond London. Influencers shared photos of food, stalls, and performances, helping the festival gain organic visibility during the rise of the social media vegan movement.

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Audience and Community Impact

The festival appealed to a diverse audience:

• Long-time vegans seeking variety and community

• Newly vegan or “veg-curious” attendees exploring plant-based lifestyles

• Environmental advocates

• Ethical consumers

• Young Londoners interested in sustainable living

• Visitors from other regions of the UK or from abroad

Attendees often praised the event for its approachable environment, affordability, and “small but packed” energy—a contrast to larger commercial festivals. Many described it as a friendly entry point into veganism, especially for those hesitant to attend activist-heavy events.

The festival’s connection to a respected animal rescue charity also contributed to a strong community identity. People felt their money was going directly to helping animals, not to corporate sponsorships or private profit.

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Cultural and Social Significance

The London Animal Free Festival emerged during an important moment in the history of plant-based culture. In the mid-2010s:

• Veganism in the UK was experiencing unprecedented growth

• London was rapidly becoming one of the world’s most vegan-friendly cities

• Supermarkets and restaurants had not yet fully embraced vegan options

• Grassroots festivals played an essential role in building public awareness

The festival’s emphasis on compassion, education, and sustainable living helped normalize veganism as both an ethical and enjoyable lifestyle. It provided:

• A space for independent vegan brands to test markets

• A platform for activism and community-building

• An informal, welcoming setting for cross-cultural interaction

• A model for other charity-driven vegan events across the UK

Events like this also helped demonstrate that plant-based food could be indulgent, flavorful, and fun—challenging stereotypes still common at the time.

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Transition to the Greater London Vegan Festival

As the festival grew and the vegan movement expanded, LondonAnimalFreeFestival.com eventually transitioned into the broader and more future-oriented Greater London Vegan Festival. The rebranding reflected:

• Ongoing growth in visitor numbers

• A shift toward a wider audience

• Expanding partnerships with vendors, charities, and performers

• A desire for a more representative and inclusive name

The festival retained its values—compassion, ethical consumerism, environmental awareness, and community engagement—while scaling its operations and broadening its offerings.

Today, although the original domain stands as a historical reminder, its legacy continues through the rebranded festival and its ongoing support of Farplace Animal Rescue’s mission.

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Example of Personal and International Influence

The archive includes an anecdote about an attendee who visited during a trip to London, later returning to Charleston, South Carolina. The visitor shared the concept with friends in the local food industry, who admired the idea but doubted that a fully vegan festival would be feasible in a seafood-centric region. This story illustrates:

• The festival’s influence beyond the UK

• The contrast between London’s plant-based boom and other culinary cultures

• How visitors carried the festival’s message internationally

Whether directly or indirectly, the festival inspired conversations and community events far beyond its origins.

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Why the Festival Still Matters

Although the early events are now several years old, the London Animal Free Festival continues to hold cultural significance. It represents:

• A snapshot of early vegan festival culture in London

• The rising demand for ethical and sustainable lifestyles

• The power of grassroots organizations to shape public attitudes

• A community-first approach to event planning

• An important revenue source for animal welfare

Events like this helped make London one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the world and laid the groundwork for broader acceptance of plant-based diets across the UK.