These are the Russell Group unis where students have already voted to go vegan

This month, students at the University of Bristol and Imperial College London voted for the unis to start serving plant-based food. Six Russell Group unis across the UK have now officially voted to go vegan. This is excellent news for the environment and for the emotional well-being of pigs, but not such great news for students who insist they can only eat ham and cheese toasties for lunch.

The Students’ Union at the University of Warwick did vote to go plant-based in November 2023, but went back on this plan in 2024.

Students have proposed going plant-based at Cardiff University, the University of Edinburgh and the University of York. But the SUs there voted against this. It sounds like students there will be eating breaded dead birds for years to come.

Here’s a rundown of all the Russell Group unis which have already voted to go vegan, plus when it will actually happen. Because lots of them haven’t actually set an exact date for when they’re stopping serving meat.

University of Bristol

Bristol students did already try to make everyone vegan in 2024, but not enough people voted for it. In February 2025, the motion finally passed. The Students’ Union has yet to actually set a deadline for when all their food has to be plant-based.

Lots of food at the University of Bristol is actually already vegan. The uni says 78 per cent of food at catered halls is plant-based, and 74 per cent of meals at their main food hall, Source at Senate House, are plant-based.

University of Cambridge

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In March 2023, the Cambridge SU voted for the uni to go completely plant-based. The vision was for the three cafes and two canteens run directly by the University to only serve vegan food. This motion doesn’t affect the many, many canteens and cafes at all the various colleges. This motion caused a lot of controversy among students who didn’t want to be deprived of sausage rolls or whatever. But the uni-run cafes and canteens are still serving cooked animals right now, so it’s not clear when the uni is actually going plant-based.

Imperial College London

(Image via the Plant Based Universities Instagram)

In February 2025, students at Imperial voted for plant-based food. This sounds dramatic, but you actually won’t all be forced to eat falafel any time soon. Food at the SU will be 50 per cent plant-based by the academic year 2027/2028, then that will increase by 10 per cent until it reaches 100 per cent. In which case, you’ll still be able to consume cows’ corpses there until the 2033/2034 year. Not even the current medicine students will be at Imperial then.

Queen Mary University of London

Protestors at Queen Mary
(Credit: Plant Based Universities)

The Students’ Union at Queen Mary is transitioning towards being totally plant-based over the next few years. Students from the Plant-Based Universities (PBU) campaign suggested it. The SU voted for 60 per cent of their food in the 2024/2025 academic year to be plant-based, then to increase this by ten per cent until the menu is totally vegan in the 2028/2029 academic year.

Newcastle University

In March 2024, the Students’ Union voted to have 50 per cent plant-based food at its event. The students said they were working towards 100 per cent vegan food, but haven’t specified exactly when.

University College London (UCL)

UCL also voted to join the Plant-Based Universities plan in 2023. The nine cafes and shops on campus have to sell 60 per cent plant-based food now, and only plant-based food in by 2029. The UCL catering team also has a rule that 50 per cent or more of their food has to be vegetarian.

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Featured images via Plant Based Universities Bristol’s Instagram, and Plant Based Universities Imperial’s Instagram.