Society Café — Restaurant in Cheltenham

When we first moved to Cheltenham, this was my favourite cafe, loved the vibe, liked to come to work occasionally - but despite what's said; it's not laptop/work friendly.

When we first came, there were certain tables you couldn't use a laptop on - understand why, not a problem and makes sense.

But then one day, my partner and I were working upstairs - the upstairs was EMPTY other than one other person also working. I sat at one table, there was one table in the middle of us with a no laptop sign, then my partner sat at the table beside that. We were together, so my partner moved to the middle table after a while seeing as it was just as quiet as when we arrived, and it didn't make any difference. Manager came and insisted my partner move back across, which was utterly pointless. Understand your no laptop signs are for a reason but when the entire floor is empty and there's two people working beside each other, a table in the middle of them or to the side of them makes absolutely no difference.... it's still a free table.

Fast forward, now it's upstairs that is laptops only - the whole level - much better idea, and we thought ah great - a good solution.

To note, if we plan to work here for the afternoon - we work all afternoon and will buy multiple coffees and usually also a cake or snack each as well. We usually also pick up a bag of coffee beans too. Plenty of profit we're offering.

But now, ANOTHER new rule has come into play, there's only 90 minutes of wifi per customer. I do not understand this as your upstairs area being laptop friendly was a solution? You would've cemented business from workers using the upstairs, now you're limiting their time - yet.. what other customers who aren't working will go and fill that space instead if they know it's a laptop zone - especially on weekdays!?

This place is just not laptop/worker friendly and are doing themselves out of good business during quieter weekdays. I would advise anyone working to go to the Nero round the corner as they might not have as good coffee but they won't limit your time, dictate where you can sit or enforce rules and make you feel like you're an inconvenience rather than a paying customer.

Because of all this, and the manager's attitude about it all, I sadly won't be coming here for non-working days either. Plenty of other great...

Opening jitters...Cheltenham has another coffee shop. This is part of a small chain, so there must a wealth of experience here and the coffee is very good, if you've got 20 minutes to spare to wait, be it a takeaway or drinking in. We thought this might be a one off on a busy Saturday morning but apparently not - it's been like this during the week too. No queue in sight so either it was a backlog or it takes a long time to make the coffee. The coffee is on a par with ARC and the Coffee Dispensary, but with service this slow I wonder how long it will last. Staff are friendly but seemingly inexperienced - watching them work suggests a complete lack of training, both in speed and technique. 2 were making coffees, rather slowly, evidently not in sequence? There were 4 falling over each other behind the counter, but no one clearing tables - we wiped ours down somewhat ineffectually with a tissue...trays are apparently for staff rather than customers. We were treated to the view of one rather frail person tottering up and down several times with the order for their table. The challenge with a coffee shop is that you need to sell a lot of coffee to cover your costs - this is a new store, completely refurbished, and it seems as if the one coffee machine is insufficient for the significant number of potential covers. There was no sign of a menu and the baked goods on display had no ingredients listed, and no indicator whether any of it was GF. Another machine, with more staff, will mean more expenses, but without it Cheltenham is unlikely to want to carry on waiting 20 minutes for a cup of coffee. Which brings us back to the beginning - does Cheltenham need another...

I ordered a decaf tea, and you might think what's strange about that, except the staff member took the time to explain to ne it wasn't English breakfast tea but a special blend of tea, was I alright with that. I was. But I more alright that they had taken the consideration to tell me rather than just giving it to me. My tea then arrived and on the tray beside the pot was the little round pot for me to put my tea bag in which for someone who likes weak black tea I found amazing, and have found no where else. I had there banana cake with it which is amazing and highly recommended. On my way out I asked a member of staff if I could please buy one of these pots because I had found it so useful. I was allowed to have a clean one for free. I can highly recommend society cafe in cheltenham, you need to go in there. The cakes are delicious and the staff are welcoming . I even took another piece of the banana cake home it...