Jeremy Clarkson has been blasted by publicans for thinking he can just ‘rock up and run a pub’ after splashing out £1million on a local gastro boozer.
As revealed by MailOnline last week, Clarkson, 64, stumped up the seven-figure sum for the Windmill in the Cotswolds within minutes of meeting its owner.
The boozer, set in five acres of countryside with ‘staggering views’ across the Windrush Valley, is just 10 miles from the TV star’s famous Diddly Squat Farm base.
It’s believed the ex-Top Gear host’s new venture could lead to a lucrative spin-off show to his Clarkson’s Farm series on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
But the presenter’s ambition to set up a cosy rural pub have been met with scorn by ‘insulted’ fellow publicans, who say it simply isn’t as easy as relying on his fame to pull in punters – as stark figures show 80 boozer are closing each month in the UK.
‘My instant reaction was “ugh”, because it’s a bit insulting that Clarkson could think he could just rock up and do it,’ Dan Brod, co-founder of the Beckford Group, which has four pubs across Wiltshire and Somerset, and two restaurants in Bath.
‘But my second reaction was that it could be good for country pubs because it could show how difficult they are to run, and how the public needs to support them.’
He added it ‘ain’t easy’ to run a pub, with hundreds of boozers forced to close in recent years due to an ‘apocalyptic’ double whammy of multiple Covid pandemic shutdowns and more recently soaring energy bills.
‘It’s probably the hardest time in history to run a country pub, Mr Brod told the Telegraph. ‘Everyone thinks Covid must have been hard, but it’s much harder now. It’s not just electricity – it’s minimum wages, food, everything.’
Clarkson has not yet revealed any specific details about his plan to take on the rural boozer. It believed the pub won’t open this year, with Clarkson telling fans on Instagram there was ‘much work to do’.
Declaring the news to his fans, Clarkson boasted: ‘I’ve bought a pub, even though everyone advised against it. It’s about 20 mins away from the [Diddly Squat] shop, with staggering views.’
The pub, described as ‘odd’ by locals, has previously been used as a wedding venue and is based in Asthall Leigh, just outside of Burford in west Oxfordshire.
It’s thought Clarkson is aiming to transform the boozer into a traditional gastro venue, which he hopes will be able to serve produce from Diddly Squat as well as pints of his Hawkstone Larger, which is brewed locally.
The nation’s beloved boozers facing a battle for survival with about 80 closing each month
Stark figures have revealed the scale of nation’s boozer closure crisis.
The number of pubs disappearing from communities across England and Wales jumped a third over the first months of 2024 amid pressure on punters’ budgets, according to figures.
But the TV star – famed for his motormouth and impulsive decisions, which once saw him splashing out about £40,000 on a tractor made by supercar manufacturer Lamborghini when he first opened his farm – is aware of the struggle ahead.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Clarkson said: ‘[As] I’ve been told time and time again, people just don’t go to country pubs any more,’
‘I think there are good reasons for that. Some have three locals at the bar who stare at you when you walk in, and some are full of octogenarians complaining that the carrots haven’t been cooked for long enough before going home at 8.30pm.
‘Fun is in short supply, and fun is what I want to put back. There will be bar billiards, there will be darts and in the garden there will be Aunt Sally, although I’m not entirely certain what Aunt Sally is.’
As revealed by MailOnline, Clarkson offered the pub’s former owner, Jackie Walker, about £1million within minutes of meeting her.
The 79-year-old veteran landlady had been running the boozer since she opened it up in 1983. She hadn’t even placed it on the market and was stunned when Clarkson made his offer to take it off her hands.
Clarkson bought the freehold to the pub and it isn’t tied to a brewery, so he can realise his dream of selling his own beer and produce from his farm at the venue.
Speaking to MailOnline, Jackie said: ‘A film crew had come into the pub and the next thing I knew someone with Clarkson knocked on the door and asked if I was interested in selling.’
She was invited to meet with Clarkson at his home in the nearby village of Chadlington where his farm Diddly Squat is based to discuss possible terms.
She said: ‘The first thing Jeremy said to me was I suppose you want a lot of money for this.’
He then made her an immediate offer that was much more than she had expected – and she accepted immediately.
Jackie recalled: ‘It did make me laugh, but that is Jeremy Clarkson.’
She went on: ‘We had met for coffee at his house, and I took over the maps of the place. He and his partner Lisa were charming, and I really liked them.
‘I had not been planning to sell the place, but I wasn’t that happy with how it was being run and I am not getting any younger.’
Renovation work on the pub has already begun and the project will be filmed by the same production company that makes ‘Clarkson’s Farm’.
Clarkson’s new venture comes amid a gloomy outlook for boozers in the UK, with statistics showing that one in four pubs have closed in the UK since 2001.
Meanwhile, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said that 30 of Britain’s beloved waterholes were closing every week.
Among those issuing a warning about the struggles Clarkson could face included TV chef, Tom Kerridge.
‘It’s very, very difficult operating a pub,’ Kerridge, who was the first chef to win two Michelin stars for his boozer, The Hand and Flowers, in Marlow, told ITV.
‘Even if it’s busy and packed on a Saturday night, the profit margin is very, very small, particularly when you’re a wet-led (drink-led) pub.
‘It’s going to be very difficult,’ he added. ‘I’m very pleased that Jeremy’s taken that on because what he did for British farming, he showed actually how difficult it was and how hard it was to make it work.’
But the Windmill’s former owner Jackie now hopes her beloved boozer’s new celebrity patron can revive its fortunes.
She continued: ‘I assume he will make a TV series out of it. I really do hope that he can make a big success of the place and restore it back to how it was. My husband and I had so much fun running it.’
