Jeremy Clarkson opens up on ‘bleak’ situation as he admits ‘things are pretty terrible’

Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about the challenges facing The Farmer’s Dog pub as he admitted the situation for the industry is “pretty terrible”

Television personality Jeremy Clarkson has admitted “things are pretty terrible” as he voiced concerns about the future of one of his ventures. Following an illustrious stint as a motoring journalist on Top Gear and The Grand Tour, Clarkson captured a new fanbase with his wildly popular Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm.

In 2024 he launched a pub, The Farmer’s Dog, in Asthall, near Burford, Oxfordshire, complementing his Diddly Squat Farm operation, but he’s now describing the outlook as “pretty bleak” for this segment of his commercial portfolio.

Clarkson expressed alarm over escalating business rates, mirroring concerns raised by fellow celebrity publican Tom Kerridge.

Writing in the Sunday Times, he noted: “The chef Tom Kerridge said the rates on his burger joint in Marlow would go up from £50,000 a year to £124,000. ‘What’s the point in being open?’ he asks reasonably. At my pub, the Farmer’s Dog, things aren’t quite that bleak but they’re still pretty terrible.

“The rateable value would shoot up from £27,250 to £55,000 and when you factor in the national insurance rise, which has upped our wage bill by £42,000 a year, we’d be up a gum tree,” reports the Express.

“Because how can you pass this on to customers when they have a £2billion gas bill to pay and they can’t get there anyway because of the new drink driving rules.”

This follows news that Clarkson has secured victory in a car park planning dispute at his establishment, formerly known as The Windmill. Planning permission for parking at the venue, which offers 170 spaces, was already in place.

The pub has attracted numerous visitors since appearing on Clarkson’s popular Amazon Prime programme.

West Oxfordshire District Council stated that off-road parking should be provided to prevent vehicles from stopping along the A40 or on the route to Asthall.

Clarkson snapped up the pub for £1million within minutes of meeting the previous owner in 2023. The property spans five acres of land.

The television personality has also revealed that his medication is “eating” his muscles in a candid disclosure about his wellbeing, though he confessed he’s reluctant to take the necessary steps to “counteract this”.

The former Top Gear presenter’s revelation emerged in a recent column where he discussed an “actual car”, specifically the new Mercedes-AMG CLE Coupé.

Clarkson chose to reflect on the New Year and our apparent inability to maintain our resolutions, including the ambition for “living clean”, a lifestyle approach he describes as “simply isn’t worth the effort”.

He also mentioned his use of the weight loss injection Mounjaro and how he “absolutely must” carry out a particular task – commonly linked with New Year’s resolutions – to “counteract” a specific side effect.

The 65 year old penned in the Times: “The human being is a flawed design. We have the intellectual capacity to work out what is good for us, but most of us can’t be bothered to do anything about it.”