We can’t all be astronauts or movie stars or whatever it is that Kim Kardashian does, but – as any number of women’s mags will tell you – we should be happy with ourselves.
The same goes for boozers, I guess.
For years and years, the Orange Tree has done a fairly honest job of serving beer to the thirsty folk of Wilmington with apparently little aspiration to be anything other than a good local, which is admirable.
Sitting by the bay window, it doesn’t feel unlike a well lived-in common room or living room. The walls have old cricket bats and hockey sticks and rackets and lots of black and white pictures, I assume, of local sports teams.
There are also pictures of the pub in yesteryear, looking ostensibly the same. Aside from a lick of paint and a new sign every now and then, there’s probably not much you can do with the look of the place, which is fairly plain.
A pool table, darts and a decent-sized telly showing the football are bound to draw the punters in, though there was a decent buzz of locals in when I visited who were simply happy to sit and natter rather than ‘do’ things.
This is what a lot of people will tell you pubs are for.
A friendly barmaid, dressed mostly in pink chatted happily to the half a dozen barflies and couldn’t be faulted.
The bar menu was fairly lean, but it had the classics like pie, lasagne and scampi and chips which was not-terrible but not exactly a delight either.
It was clear by the layout of the place, that the carvery on a Sunday must be pretty popular.
Being a Shepherd Neame pub, the range of beers was predictable – Masterbrew, Asahi etc – though a few of the clips were sadly turned around, which I took to mean they were out.
The Orange Tree is unlikely to ever be an award-winning, trend-setting pub of the year, but it seems to do a job for its locals so who am I to judge?
The Orange Tree , Hawley Road, Wilmington
How it rated:
Decor** It’s OK
Atmosphere****Nice locals
Staff***** Very nice
Food** Adequate
Drink** Basic range
Price** £3.90 for a pint of Asahi’s maybe a little steep
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