20 High Street

Gravesend

01474 364666

https://the-kent.com/

https://whatpub.com/kent

Above photo 1948, kindly supplied by John Hopperton.

Above photo, date unknown. Kindly supplied by John Hopperton.

Above photo 2018, kindly sent by Maurice Hedge.

Above sign, August 1974. With thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com.

A pub called the "Swan" is noted in 1339 and is thought to be the earliest known Gravesend Pub. Whether this is the same pub I am as yet unsure.

The original building addressed as number 20 at the time was timber clad and suffered complete destruction in the fire of 1850. It must have been rebuilt soon after, along with the rest of the buildings destroyed in that fire.

Traced to 1462 as the "Swan" till 1829. The following year in 1830 it was referred to as the "Kent" where it operated under this name till 1976. Although the Lost Pubs Project suggests that it was operating under the name of "Doddrell's Wine Lodge" from between 1909 and 1912. It then changed to the "Penny Farthing" till 2001, apparently being closed for 4 years till 2005 when it reopened as the "Kent Bar and Bistro."

There is also the possibility that it may have been called the "Blew Boar's Head" traced from between 1635 and 1795, which would have been in the same area.

As of June 2014, and after several name changes, the pub is once again operating as the "Kent," although now advertising itself as a "cocktail and lounge bar."

Above photo July 2014, kindly supplied by John Hopperton.

Above photo July 2014, kindly supplied by John Hopperton.

Above photo July 2021, kindly taken and sent by Ian Goodrick.

LICENSEE LIST

JERRY Richard 1832-40+

TEMPLE John 1853-61+

LEVY Henry 1865+

BALLS Henry James Kingston 1875-78+

PITT John Charles 1881-91+

???? Arthur L 1901+

TWYMAN Alfred 1903+

WARWOOD W J 1911-18+

WALTER Thomas Claude 1922+

OLIVER Arthur 1930+

BRETTON H J 1938+

BRISTOW P Nov-6/Dec/1958 dec'd

https://pubwiki.co.uk/Kent.shtml

http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/kent.html

From the Pigot's Directory 1832-33-34

From the Kelly's Directory 1903

Census