Bangor vegan restaurant Voltaire refuses new £5 note

A vegan restaurant in Gwynedd has said it will not accept the new £5 note as it contains animal products.

Rachael Phoenix, the owner of Voltaire in Bangor, said she was "sickened" by the decision to use tallow, a type of animal fat, in the notes.

She said she "had to take a stand" and customers had been "very supportive".

The Bank of England did not comment on whether businesses were obliged to accept the notes.

Some vegetarians, Sikhs and Hindus have expressed anger at the use of tallow.

A petition calling for an end of the use of animal products in the notes, which launched in September, has attracted 130,000 signatures.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Ms Phoenix said: "We have decided not to accept the notes here at Voltaire as a stand against using animal products in our everyday necessary products.

"Thank you to all our wonderful customers who have been so supportive in our decision.

"We do hope that this does not cause too much inconvenience."

Ms Phoenix said Voltaire, which opened eight months ago, was the "only 100% vegan restaurant in Wales".

She added: "It sickened us that they have done it in the first place. We had to show that we were not happy with it."

After initially being concerned the move would inconvenience customers, she said they had been "really supportive".

"We are making sure that we have plenty of change," Ms Phoenix added.

"Once the old notes are out of circulation we will have to see what happens then."

Voltaire is not the first eatery to reject the new tender; Cambridge's vegetarian Rainbow Cafe also recently decided not to accept the new £5 notes.

According to the Bank of England, if a debtor pays in legal tender, they have "good defence if sued for non-payment of the debt.", external

The bank said it was looking into how to make the notes meat-free.