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They haven't been open for long, but already this vegan restaurant is catering for rock royalty.

Junk It Up, Newcastle's first vegan fast food bar, opened the doors to its new sit-down, city centre restaurant at the end of November - and tonight, they'll be catering for heavy metal legends Def Leppard.

Their hard rock image hasn't stopped many of them sharing their commitment to vegan and vegetarianism with fans. Guitarist Phil Collen has spoken about enjoying a vegan (and booze-free) diet, while drummer Rick Allen is so committed to ethical consumption that he launched a vegan bag company this summer.

For staff at Junk It Up's newly-opened branch on Pink Lane, the call from the band's team was a source of serious excitement.

Junk It Up's co-owner Kerry James said: "We have a great relationship with the Arena and the Academy, and have cooked for a lot of famous bands and acts in the past, but this by far the biggest band we’ve been asked to do food for.

"We couldn’t believe it for a second. Def Leppard are absolute rock legends, and the whole team is so excited to be making food for them, especially vegan junk food.

"The runner at the arena let us know straight away who it was for, and exactly what the band members wanted."

This, Kerry says, was "quite a bit", including a 10 piece southern fried 'fricken' bucket, a fricken classic burger with cheese, and vegan hot wings.

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

According to Kerry, the launch of the new bar, which follows on from the success of the first takeaway branch on Shields Road in Byker, is going "fantastically" so dar.

"The atmosphere and décor has an energetic city centre vibe, relaxed and casual, with more of a city centre bar feel," she added.

Kerry says her team are seeing more and more people interested in vegan food - which can only be helped by a few internationally famous vegan customers.

She said: "We are getting customers who eat meat, but who are open to eating vegan food as well. We set out to show that vegan food doesn’t have to be boring, and stereotypical leaves on a plate, and we think we’re achieving that.

"The response has been overwhelmingly postive, and people are open to the idea that good food is good food."