The Waiting Room is a homely neighbourhood vegetarian restaurant. Established in 1985, and celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2025, the award winning restaurant specialises in creative slow-cooked dishes using all natural ingredients, vegetables and wholefoods. We serve a lot of plates that are suitable for a vegan diet, with food that is fresh, healthy and honest to goodness.

The restaurant has a warm homely atmosphere, with a cosy front room, a light airy conservatory to the rear, and a stylish bar with beautiful curved glass windows, in the old chemist shop next door - where we created The Other Room with superb bohemian community pub vibes in 2020. And next door the other way, in 2022 we created vvroom a wonderful vegetarian takeaway and sometimes bakery.

We have put on hundreds of art events over the years, and have supported wide-ranging community events. In 2016 we were invited to emulate The Waiting Room as a useful artwork, with an art project titled ‘The Cafe’ at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art - when we created The Smeltery slow food restaurant.

Look out for our publication of this experience, coming soon, and as we also create a book about The Waiting Room in 2025.

Instagram @thewaitingroom