Jeremy Clarkson is reportedly considering purchasing a Cotswolds pub to broaden his Clarkson’s Farm venture.
County council insiders in Gloucestershire have said that the 63-year-old has his sights set on the Grade II listed Coach & Horses Inn, which sits on the edge of the idyllic Cotswolds village of Bourton-on-the-Water, a location known for its quaint low bridges and traditional stone houses.
The site is listed by Stonegate Pub Partners for a retail partnership tenancy with a forecast turnover of more than £540,000 per year with a guide rent price of £846 per week.
It is situated near the brewery where Clarkson’s Hawkstone Lager is produced. The lager is made using spring barley grown on the ex-Top Gear star’s Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire.
A source told Gloucestershire Live that there was excitement among staff at Gloucestershire County Council last month ahead of a planned visit by Clarkson to discuss road issues, should he did decide to go ahead with the business expansion.
The talks reportedly came ahead of Clarkson submitting a planning application to the Cotswold district council.
“There’s stuff swirling around,” a source told the publication. “He has been in talks about that but it has not got to the stage of a planning application yet. It’s very early days.”
The Independent has approached Clarkson’s representatives, and Gloucestershire County Council, for comment.
Clarkson’s brewery already has a taproom and pop-up food outlets on the weekends, so expanding with a full pub seems like a logical next step for the TV personality’s investment in the area.
Local farming and hospitality businesses have said that they would welcome Clarkson’s further expansion.
Andrew Lund-Yates, who owns the Old New Inn in Bourton and runs the Bourton Business Network, told The Times that many of the Inn’s guests are people in the area to visit the Diddly Squat farm and farm shop, which is depicted on Clarkson’s Farm reality TV show.
“The Cotswolds is big enough to cope with another eatery and a well-known name. In fact I think there will be spillover and people will come to Bourton for that and then come into the village. More often than not people staying with us are off to see Diddly Squat,” he said.
Clarkson’s Farm, which follows the ex-Top Gear host’s attempts to run a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds, has become one of Prime Video’s biggest hits since it started in June 2021. A long-awaited third series began in May.
Nik Antona, chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale, said his group “welcomed” the news in the hope that Clarkson “would bring the same attention to the pub trade that he has to farming”.
Antona said that the pub and brewing industries are in economic turmoil amid the cost of living crisis and that more attention to the running of local country pubs would be a welcome prospect.
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