A Bristol steakhouse which saw animal rights campaigners stage a sit-in at tables reserved for customers last night (May 20) has reacted to the protests. Nine supporters of Animal Rising targeted The Cow & Sow in Queen Square on Saturday evening.
They were pictured sitting at tables which had been reserved for diners of the family-run steakhouse, while holding placards which were said to showcase conditions inside UK farms. Other images were said to focus on an idea of a world free from animal farming.
But staff at The Cow & Sow said that the protesters' presence at the establishment seemed to make more customers order larger meat dishes. Tyler, the manager on shift during the sit-in, told Bristol Live: "If anything it made us busier."
Read more: Animal rights campaigners stage sit-in at Bristol steakhouse
He went on to say: "We even sold out of all of our sharing steaks."
Bristol wasn't the only place to be targeted by action from campaigners last night. Similar high-end restaurant sit-ins took place in cities across the UK, including Glasgow and London.
Ahead of yesterday's protest Daniel Juniper, 28 and an early years practitioner, said: “We are supporting the Animal Rising activists who occupied Grange Dairy Farm in Dorset, where they found nearly 1,000 calves who had been separated from their mothers, some only weeks old. No animal deserves to be torn away from their mother and no animal deserves to be turned into a sensory pleasure for other animals.
"So we are disrupting The Cow & Sow in Bristol - a steakhouse with an extensive selection of meat. In a time where the public opinion is changing about how we view animals, this type of restaurant is out-dated and destructive. So I and eight other supporters of Animal Rising are here to disrupt their Saturday night service.
"To sound the alarm and call for change. There is an alternative and it is kinder and loving.”
Animal Rising was formerly Animal Rebellion - a British activist movement with the stated aim of 'compelling social change towards animal rights and a plant-based food system'. It changed its name from Animal Rebellion to Animal Rising in April 2023, just after its supporters delayed the Grand National by 15 minutes - this led to the arrest of 118 activists for delaying the race and for public order offences.
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