THE owner of a vegan kitchen in Swindon believes more eateries like her own will spring up in town as new figures show the number of vegans in Britain has quadrupled in the past four years.

Data compiled by The Vegan Society found that the number of vegans in Britain has shot up from 150,000 in 2014 to 600,000 in 2018 - making it the fastest growing lifestyle movement.

Indy's Vegan Kitchen, based at the Brunel Plaza, has been open for nearly six months and its owner Victoria Capener says she has noticed an upwards shift in customers too.

She says in light of this growing trend, other vegan restaurants are likely to pop up in Swindon in the not too distant future.

"I am the only all vegan place in town but I do not think it will stay that way for too long," said Victoria, who has been a vegan for the last five years.

"It has gone really well and continues to improve. We obviously have a lot of vegans but there are some omnivores that want to see what it is all about. I can confirm we don’t eat grass, twigs or berries.

"I think the increase is down to social media and the ease of access to information, people putting out recipes and photos of the food they make.

"It opens up a whole new world that people did not know existed previously.

"TV shows such as Blue Planet did a fantastic job of highlighting issues about plastic too. When they learn about this, other related issues get discovered too."

The Vegan Society's research also shows that 42 per cent of vegans are found to be between 15-34 years old.

"For Swindon I think the demographic this research highlights is quite accurate I am fortunate to have customers that have been vegans for decades or parents bringing in their kids leading the vegan lifestyle," she said.

"There are increasing options in the chain restaurants. People are waking up to this. People have said to me that doing something like I have done is their dream."

Simon Bandy, General Manager of Veganicity, said: "Veganism has many benefits including the protection of the environment.

"The production of meat and animal products relies heavily on intensive farming and transportation - from growing crops to feed the animals, to the transport and process from farm to plate.

"Plundering the environment for the meat industry can lead to deforestation, species extinction and habitat loss.

"In Brazil alone, 5.6 million acres of land is being used to grow soya beans for animals in Europe.

"Another reason for the veganism movement is protection of the animals themselves.

"By reducing the amount of meat bought, vegans often stand against animal exploitation and cruelty."