Shakes serves eight vegan milkshakes — Bourbon Creams, Hobnobs, Jammie Dodgers, Lotus Biscoff, Maryland Vegan, Oreo Cookies, Party Rings and Peanut Butter — all blended with vegan vanilla soft-serve and real biscuits. They're priced £6 regular, £7.50 large. Below: an honest ranking by personality (not by sales), how to think about plant-milk bases, and how Kent's wider vegan milkshake scene is shaping up in 2026.
The UK's plant-based dairy market is having a quiet decade-long boom, and 2026 is the year it stops feeling like a niche. Mintel's tracking shows 41% of UK Gen Z intend to follow a meat-free diet this year, 26% of under-35s avoid dairy in their household, and the dairy alternatives category turned over £692 million in the UK last year. That's a lot of people walking past traditional milkshake menus.
A vegan milkshake is no longer an apologetic side option. Done well, it's its own thing — different texture, different flavour profile, and (for our money) a better fit for some of Britain's oldest biscuit flavours. If you've never tried a vegan Bourbon Cream shake, you're missing one of the genuinely fun corners of the UK dessert scene.
What makes a vegan milkshake actually good
A vegan milkshake is harder to make well than a dairy one. The first generation of vegan shakes — back when "vegan" mostly meant "we put oat milk in it instead" — could be thin, ice-crystally, and a bit like blending a cereal bowl. The technique has caught up. Three things matter:
- A real plant-based base, not just plant milk — the shakes that taste right use a proper vegan soft-serve or vegan ice cream as the body, not just oat milk in a blender. The fat content of the base is what gives the shake its richness; lean too far on plant milk alone and you're drinking flavoured slush.
- Real biscuits and chocolate, not syrups — the difference between a "Bourbon flavour" syrup and an actual blended Bourbon biscuit is night and day. Real-ingredient inclusions are harder logistically, but they're what makes the drink memorable. A vegan milkshake with real Lotus Biscoff blended in tastes properly indulgent.
- The right plant milk for the flavour — oat for chocolate and biscuit shakes, coconut for tropical, soy for a high-protein neutral, almond for fruit. Pick the wrong one and you'll fight the flavour the whole way through.
Our 8 vegan milkshakes, ranked by personality
We've not ranked these by sales. We've ranked them by which one is most fun to talk about across the till. Your favourite will probably be different — and that's the point.
1. Bourbon Creams — the dark-horse winner
Chocolatey bourbon biscuits blended into vegan soft-serve. We included this on the menu half-expecting nobody to order it. We were completely wrong. It's deep, properly chocolatey, slightly buttery (in a vegan way), and it tastes more grown-up than most milkshakes have any right to. If you've not had it, you're missing the most underrated drink on the menu.
2. Lotus Biscoff (Vegan) — the obvious winner
The bestseller, deserves its reputation. Caramelised cinnamon biscuit flavour all the way through, blended with the spread for real density. The flavour is genuinely identical to the dairy version — there's no compromise here.
3. Party Rings — pure colourful joy
Rainbow iced biscuits blended in. It tastes like a primary-school birthday party in the best possible way. Properly sweet, properly fun, no apologies. The kind of drink that makes adults remember why milkshakes used to be exciting. We don't sell this on "premium ingredient" credentials. We sell it on personality.
4. Jammie Dodgers — the sneaky one
Raspberry jam meets shortcake in vegan soft-serve. The genius of this drink is the fruit acidity cutting through the sweetness — it ends up tasting closer to a strawberry-and-cream shake than you'd expect, with a biscuit body underneath. The dark-horse choice for anyone who'd usually order a fruit milkshake.
5. Oreo Cookies (Vegan) — the one nobody knows about
Yes, Oreos are vegan. They've always been technically vegan (no dairy in the recipe), and a properly vegan Oreo milkshake is one of those drinks that converts dairy-skeptics in a single sip. We flag this one for first-time vegan-shake orderers because it tastes the most "normal" — same flavour as the dairy version, same mouthfeel, just dairy-free.
6. Hobnobs Original — the comforting one
Oats, brown sugar, gentle sweetness. If Bourbon Creams is the chocolatey grown-up choice, Hobnobs is the cosy choice — closer to a proper porridge-and-honey breakfast than a dessert shake. Lower sweetness than most of the menu, which makes it the one we'd suggest for someone who'd usually order a smoothie.
7. Maryland Vegan — the safe bet
Chocolate-chip biscuits in a milkshake. There's not a person on earth who dislikes the combination of chocolate chips and vanilla ice cream, and the vegan version is honestly indistinguishable. We rank it at 7 only because it does what you expect — and the rest of the list has more personality.
8. Peanut Butter — the workout shake
Smooth peanut butter blended into vegan soft-serve. Heavy, rich, properly indulgent. Closer to a meal than a drink. We've had customers come in post-gym order this with a scoop of vegan protein on top — the closest a milkshake gets to actually being functional. Rank 8 only because it's polarising; everyone else on the list is universally crowd-pleasing.
Full vegan range
See all 53 vegan items
Beyond the 8 vegan milkshakes — vegan fruit teas with popping boba, all 13 smoothies, vegan waffles, and a vegan soft-serve dessert range.
Browse the vegan menu
Plant-milk bases — oat vs soy vs coconut vs almond
A quick guide for anyone wanting to understand what's happening inside a vegan shake — useful both for ordering at our shop and for thinking about home recipes.
- Oat — the closest in mouthfeel to dairy. Higher in fats and natural sugars, gives a creamy, almost-buttery texture. Works best in chocolate, biscuit and caramel shakes — anything where you want richness without competing flavours. Brands like Oatly and Alpro Barista are designed exactly for this.
- Soy — the high-protein neutral all-rounder. Doesn't carry as much fat as oat, but the protein gives it a structural body that holds up to blending. Decent in almost any shake. The classic choice for anyone wanting nutritional density.
- Coconut — leans tropical, even when you don't want it to. Excellent in chocolate-coconut shakes, mediocre with biscuits, surprisingly good with peanut butter. Picks up its own flavour distinctly — choose deliberately.
- Almond — the lightest of the four. Works well in fruit-based shakes and smoothies, gets a bit thin in dessert-style milkshakes. Lower in calories, lower in protein, generally the option for someone who wants more "drink" than "dessert" feel.
Where else in Kent does vegan milkshakes well
Kent's plant-based scene has grown a lot since 2024. We're not the only show in town, and we'd rather be honest about that than pretend otherwise. Independent cafés in Canterbury, Tunbridge Wells, and Maidstone are increasingly carrying vegan milkshakes alongside their main menus, often with one or two strong-flavour options (typical pairings: oat-based chocolate, vegan strawberry).
Some UK independents worth knowing: Sblended is a UK-based vegan milkshake specialist with national delivery. Devoated states it uses UK-provenance oats. Shakers Dairy Free in Bloomsbury runs a small dedicated vegan menu. The big ice-cream chains have started doing one or two vegan options, but the depth of choice is usually thin.
For Gravesend specifically, we're the dedicated walk-in option right now. If you're in Bluewater, Ebbsfleet, Northfleet or any of the surrounding towns, we deliver via Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo — full coverage of the DA postcode area.
Allergens, dietary, the boring-but-important bit
All eight vegan milkshakes contain wheat (the biscuits) and soya (the soft-serve). Peanut Butter additionally contains peanuts. None contain dairy, eggs, or nuts beyond peanuts. We're a shared kitchen, so we cannot guarantee any item is free from any specific allergen — please tell us at the till if you have a serious allergy and we'll talk you through the cleanest options.
For gluten-free dairy-free customers, the smoothies are your friend — most of our 13 smoothies are vegan and don't contain wheat-based ingredients. The Sunrise Morning has gluten-free oats specifically. See the full vegan menu for allergen detail per item.
A small note from us
We're a milkshake shop first. We grew the vegan range because people asked for it, kept asking for it, and turned up to vote with their orders. Eight flavours later, vegan shakes are about a quarter of our milkshake sales — far above the UK average — and we're proud of that. If you've avoided vegan shakes because the ones you've tried before were thin or bland, give ours an honest go. We think you'll be surprised.
