Review: The New Society, Devizes

Location: The New Society, 31 The Market Pl, Devizes SN10 1JQ

As much as the DUCKS team would like to spend all their time talking about, or eating cake, sadly our lives include other commitments (boo!) – so this month the DUCKS woke with the birds and waddled out for a breakfast meeting… because it’s never too early for cake!

On our hit list this month was The New Society situated right in the heart of Devizes in the Market Place. Despite us all being locals, half of our flock had never visited The New Society before and as often touted on the community Facebook groups as a good breakfast spot, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give the location a shot!

Four years ago, the old Tourist Information Centre in Devizes was transformed into The New Society – a stylish cafe lounge bar packed full of tastefully mismatched tables and features. The number of decorations proved a little challenging for our flock as we navigated the room with our inquisitive DUCKlings (thankfully we managed to avoid knocking over the bunches of flowers and decorative ornamental fowl), and the steps leading into the building also required some more considered navigation – thank you to the passing Police Officer who helped give some wings to our pushchair and get it successfully up the stairs.

The downstairs room filled quickly in the couple of hours that we were there – we spied families, friends and even the odd business meeting – so clearly this is a popular independent establishment.

What are the cakes like at The New Society?

It wouldn’t be fair to judge The New Society purely on its cake – it is known locally as a great spot for breakfast and lunch, so we made sure to scratch around a little more widely with the menu… but regardless of the hour, there was no way we were holding back the youngsters from the cake (as if we needed any persuasion ourselves!).

1. Full English Breakfast 

The Society breakfast was excellent, with good pork products and non-salty hashbrowns and mushrooms that were well done.  However, we were a little surprised that we weren’t offered a choice of egg when we placed our order… and that the fried egg we were given lacked a decadent runny yolk. 

2. Scrambled Eggs on Toast

It was with the eggs again that the New Society seemed to slip up.  The scrambled eggs were cooked well… perhaps a little too well, verging on the dry side, and lacking the expected creaminess of a £7.50 scrambled egg.  We were delighted that options were given to accommodate a gluten and dairy-free plate, however, the standard version left us a little underwhelmed.

3. Red Velvet Cake

There was a small selection of three cakes available when we visited – and so we took on the valiant task of getting our beaks into as many as possible… without spoiling our breakfast!  The red velvet cake was beautifully moist with a nice flavour and a brilliantly red colour.  

4. Chocolate and Cherry Cake

We assume was good.  It’s honestly difficult to tell, as our youngest DUCKling devoured the whole slice without leaving so much as a crumb for Mummy-Duck.  What can we say… it looked nice, although possibly a little dry, whilst it lasted!

Whilst we know that The New Society offers a huge range of things for diners, overall the cake offering specifically wasn’t really broad enough for these DUCKS, and also lacked any gluten-free options when we visited.  This meant that we left without a single person opting for round 2 or tempted to takeaway. 

What’s the verdict of the drinks at The New Society?

When we’re getting our beaks around some food, we have to make sure that we wash it all down well with something nice to drink.

1. Decaf Americano

We did hold our breaths a little at this one as one of our Decaf Ducks had been previously unimpressed with the decaf blend here… but they were pleased to report a good improvement.  Nice and balanced, without a cloying aftertaste.

2. Cappuccino

Everything that a cappuccino should be – smooth, creamy and with a light dusting of chocolate for sweetness. Ideal.

3. Smoothie

Delicious. Not sickly or too icey and perfect blending!

4. Squash

Expertly mixed, carefully balancing the ratios of squash and water 😉

The verdict – Fully-fledged or Poultry offering?

The New Society has a fantastic location, looking out onto the Market Place, and with some fabulous features.   But with so many different eateries around the centre of the town, what does it do differently to tempt in the custom?

The Positives:

A beautiful location.  Tastefully decorated, with lots of tables for groups of different sizes and needs.  They have high chairs available and the courtyard out the back is dog-friendly.  

Dietary requirements were accommodated with our hot food, with gluten and dairy-free options available.

The Negatives

The accessibility was an issue for us on our visit – the stairs at the front of the cafe, and the collection of tables and chairs inside were difficult to navigate with a buggy.  Similarly, there is a brilliantly large downstairs toilet – however, it lacked a changing table, which seemed very strange based on the size of the room.

We were a little surprised by the lack of gluten-free cake available – but we don’t expect all locations to be able to accommodate all needs… it was early, so maybe more would have appeared later!

The last thing to comment on really was the eggs – they all seemed overdone, and not at all what we were expecting.  

We left The New Society a little underwhelmed overall, which surprised us in all honesty.  We all wanted to love it, and some of our DUCKS reported really wonderful lunches there in the past, but it just wasn’t meant to be on this visit.  The New Society is very popular, we saw many tables reserved for later in the day, and the lunch menu did look impressive. It’s wonderful to see an independent business thriving in Devizes, but I don’t think these DUCKS will fly by for cake again.