WINNIE-the-Pooh might be the wisest character in children’s literature - like all great thinkers it’s the grumbles of his stomach that direct his thought.

Pooh’s creator, A.A. Milne, has pal Piglet ask: “When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, what’s the first thing you ask yourself?”

“What’s for breakfast,” the famous bear replies. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?”

“Pooh nodded thoughtfully,” Milne writes. “It’s the same thing,” says Pooh.

I was brought up by a Scottish mother, who bought porridge in bulk on our school holiday trips north and unsuccessfully tried to persuade my brother and I to give up Sugar Puffs in favour of rolled oats.

Breakfast is the best meal of the day, she said. Mothers are always right.

I’ll skip lunch, and even dinner on occasion, but never breakfast. Fry ups are my breakfast of choice, with mushrooms slathered in butter.

However, I’d heard good things about the breakfast at Old Town juice bar The Core.

The Devizes Road vegetarian café is a favourite haunt of an old housemate of mine, who swears by The Core’s vegetable juices and smoothies.

The place exudes health. Even the sign outside is in green astro-turf. Inside, it feels like a bijou New York loft apartment: stripped back brick, reclaimed wood and studded leather sofas.

A succession of tanned, muscled He-men process in and out of the café. For some it might act as an encouragement to live a healthily vegetarian lifestyle. But it just leaves me wondering where I can get a spray tan.

I’ve arranged to meet a friend here for breakfast. I’m late by 10 minutes, struggling to wake up after a late night.

I arrive sweaty and in the kind of sackcloth shorts that would shame a 1950s Scout troop. Despite it, I’m not turned away by The Core’s friendly staff.

The breakfast menu is short, clear and – impressive, given vegetarian cafés’ reputations – unpretentious.

I ignore the vegetarian twist on a full English and go for mashed avocado and poached eggs on toast. Pushing the boat out, I also choose an Earl Grey tea.

Deciding on a vegetable juice is more complicated. There’s a dozen or so juices on the board, each containing a vegetable-box worth of goodness.

I like blitzed spinach as much as the next man, but I’m far from adept at navigating this bewildering array of colours and flavours.

Feeling tired after a late night I ask for something – anything – that will wake me up. “Do you like ginger?” the woman behind the counter asks.

I’m handed the receipt for something called a Zinger, a mixture of carrot, apple and ginger that tastes like cool shade on a sunny garden day.

The food arrives quickly, before I’ve even had a chance to finish my first cup of tea.

I’ve never been particularly bothered by avocado. It’s the hipster food of choice, but I’ve usually found it tastes like cardboard blessed with the texture of lukewarm ice cream.

This, however, is delicious. The avocado comes mashed and served with rocket. Runny poached egg dribbles off it and onto the sourdough bread. The toast is thick enough to fill you up and thin enough to prevent you from losing a tooth while you’re munching your breakfast.

Someone has sprinkled yeast flakes over the plate. They sound disgusting and look like fish food, but taste like the hard bits that develop on cheddar that’s been left out the fridge overnight.

The Zinger juice is lovely. Sweet, with the virtuous tang of an earthy vegetable. When it arrives at the table in a voguish glass jar the juice has a kind of fluffy lightness. It dulls slightly into orange water as the fibre from the fruit settles. But a stir has it back to normal.

My friend, who opts for a muesli style bowl of nuts and berries, describes her food as refreshing, but it leaves something to be desired. She admits later that she cooked up some bacon when she got home.

At just shy of £10, this is not a place to go for a dirty fry-up. But as an antidote to a Saturday morning hangover, it should hit the spot.

The Core, 4 Devizes Road, Swindon, SN1 4BJ

Parking: Britannia Place Car Park, Old Town

Our ratings:

Food: 8/10

Choice: 7/10

Décor: 9/10

Customer service: 9/10

Breakfast: from £4.75

Tripadvisor rating: 4.5/5