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