Four decades of vegan food in Shrewsbury celebrated
A cafe is celebrating 40 years of creating vegetarian and vegan food for the people of Shropshire.
The Good Life, Shrewsbury, was one of the first restaurants of its kind to open its doors four decades ago.
The popular eatery off Wyle Cop is now owned by Jo Langfield, 47, who took over 12 years ago.
She said: "I know it opened in 1978 as a vegetarian and vegan restaurant all those years ago. It was really ahead of its time as there was very few restaurants like this anywhere. The owners were inspired by the famous Cranks cookbook recipes.
"Even then they really focused on healthy eating and having a low impact on the environment, and we have carried that ethos on."
Today the Good Life also caters for gluten and wheat-free customers and uses as little packaging as possible to stay environmentally friendly.
"More and more people are turning vegetarian or vegan now, and even more are concious about where the food is coming from," Jo said.
Jo has a team of six who are passionate about meat-free food - the longest who has worked there since leaving catering college.
She added: "Sharon Bassett came to the Good Life at the age of 18 and is still here 12 years later. We have a great team who are so enthusiastic about everything we do.
"I'm really grateful to them and to our lovely customers - it's been a pleasure serving them over the years. I hope the business keeps going from strength to strength and that it's around for another 40 years."
