by Hiking Fox » Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:34 pm
The Bear Co-operative, 29 Rochdale Road, Todmorden.
Todmorden is a small town on the Lancashire and Yorkshire border. It is half an hour from Manchester by train (about 20 miles). There is a long-established vegetarian co-op there, that has a shop downstairs and a cafe upstairs (a bit like '8th Day', only smaller).
We were impressed by the shop, it seemed quite well-stocked for a fairly small shop, and sold several types of vegan cheese, at least 6 types of shampoo, and staples like flapjacks and redwood rashers. Climbing a curved flight of gorgeous chunky stairs took us to the cafe.
The cafe seemed to strike a good balance between eccentric scruffy (plants and second-hand books everywhere, mismatched tables, and the menu written on a huge blackboard), and conventionally-old fashioned (it was full of pensioners drinking tea). There were three soups on offer for £3.50 (all labelled vegan) and about five healthy-sounding mains. We both ordered different types of soup.
The portions were generous - it is the kind of place where soup is thick and substantial and regarded as a meal in its own right rather than a starter. That was fine by us. The soup came with chunky wholemeal bread and unfortunately, dishes of butter. I don't know why so many places label the soup 'vegan' and then serve it with bread and butter. We even said we were vegan when ordering, just to be on the safe side.
We also had a smoothie, and a black coffee. The coffee was nice (apparently), and my smoothie came in a very big glass, but tasted too sweet for my liking. It tasted like it was made from mango puree mixed with juice from a carton. Ok for the price, but I would have happily paid a pound extra for something more fresh.
Overall, we liked this place, but they should offer a better range of drinks and ask if you want butter, marge or nothing with the bread.
