contain the corporate Hooden Horse name and there was simply no way we could have made the place work under the name John Brunt V.C." and the newly renamed pub opened 6 days before the 50 year anniversary of the original naming ceremony on 28 August 1997. Bob Akehurst, a Paddock Wood resident, threatened to stand against the existing Paddock Wood councillors in the local elections if they did not take appropriate action to ensure that John Brunt's name was remembered. Some former customers refused to enter the pub now that the name had changed and Mr. Akehurst, who remembered John Brunt, said that to "call the place The Hopping Hooden Horse is, frankly, ridiculous.". The John Brunt in the 21st century In June 2001 Rita and Terry Dixon took over the pub from Hooden Horse Inns and immediately decided to revert to the old name, which was greeted with enthusiasm by Paddock Wood residents. Several customers who had refused to drink there under the Hooden Horse name now returned (although even during that time, the pub was still known by local residents simply as The Brunt). Unfortunately the original signs had been lost when the pub changed its name, although the "John Brunt V.C." brass wording that used to hang on the outside wall was found at the nearby hop farm. On 9 November 2008, a new sign designed by Alex Atkinson, an art student at Mascalls School, was unveiled by Eric Knight, who knew John Brunt when at school. In 2019 the pub was purchased by Star Pubs and Bars and in December that year closed for two months as work began on converting it into a gastropub at a cost of £480,000. References Pubs in Kent Buildings and structures in the Borough of Tunbridge Wells Paddock Wood