Saturday marks a year since the presenter opened the doors to The Farmer’s Dog in Oxfordshire over the Bank Holiday weekend
Jeremy Clarkson has tackled many setbacks to ensure his The Farmer’s Dog pub, which opened last August, would be a hit.
When he came up against different problems, the 65-year-old pub landlord was not going to be defeated; his Oxfordshire pub was always going to be a success.
Saturday marks a year since the presenter opened the doors to The Farmer’s Dog in Oxfordshire over the bank holiday weekend, not far from Diddly Squat Farm. Crowds of people were anxiously waiting for Clarkson to throw open the doors and declare it open for business.
Fast forward a year, The Farmer’s Dog appears to be just as busy and he employs 146 members of staff at the pub.
Although the Cotswolds has always been a much-sought-after area, people have travelled a long distance just to visit the pub.
Clarkson hasn’t made a secret of the difficulties he has faced along the way or suffered in silence. Many of the problems he has faced with the pub have played out while the cameras were rolling for Clarkson’s Farm series four.
Dogging site
Immediately, The Windmill pub’s site — now known as The Farmer’s Dog — caught Clarkson’s eye, but before he had signed on the dotted line, there were signs of trouble.
Furious Clarkson discovered the pub was a dogging site. The discovery happened in the months before August 2024 but it played out on our screens in May earlier this year.
In Clarkson’s Farm, he told Charlie Ireland, “It’s the perfect site. Now this bloody picnic site. Of all the damn things!”
Taking action, Clarkson had CCTV installed at the site that he could view on his phone. He told The Sun in September: “I’ve got CCTV now, so I can check it up on my phone.” There haven’t been any rumblings of any problems in that area since.
Staff walkouts and £40,000 row
Clarkson’s opening weekend was hailed a success, but it came to light this year that he struggled with a power cut and a staff walkout.
He got into a row over £40,000 umbrellas that led to his front-of-house staff quitting just after he opened the pub.
The furious row was kept quiet until Clarkson’s Farm series four, where on-camera he ruled out Sue and Rachel Hawkins’ suggestion to get £40,000 umbrellas on his pub decking because of the £25,000 budget.
“Everyone is exhausted, even when we say go for a break, there is no staff room,” they tell him. “They’re weeing in a portaloo. It’s not lovely conditions. They love you. They’re excited about the British food.”
It got awkward when Rachel told Clarkson to go back into the kitchen to thank his staff. The TV star had a sarcastic response as he said should he do that or the other long list of things he had to get on with. Not long after that, Sue and Rachel Hawkins quit working for Clarkson.
Clarkson said they had done a “brilliant job” and he was disappointed that they left The Farmer’s Dog. The awkward scenes played out in Clarkson’s Farm series four.
In June, the former Grand Tour star showed off his enormous umbrellas on his decking. He didn’t mind going back on what he had said, too. “Turns out Sue and Rachel had a point,” he wrote on Instagram. “The Farmer’s Dog did need big umbrellas after all!!”
They weren’t the only staff to leave on that opening weekend. Elsewhere on Clarkson’s Farm, he told Ireland: “We’ve lost two waitresses. We lost a pot washer. After one day.”
Before Christmas, Clarkson revealed he had been warned about “the difficulty of making money” as a pub landlord especially by sticking to his ethos of having British grown food.
He had also been warned about theft and he revealed 104 beer glasses were stolen on one Sunday at the pub. The farmer was determined to start the New Year as he meant to go on.
In a bid to stamp down on the thefts, he got new beer mats which had a picture of himself on them with the words: “Jeremy is watching. Don’t steal his pint glasses!”
The beer glasses were always available to purchase on Clarkson’s official merchandise website. However punters hoping to make cash listed the stolen glasses on ebay.
Clarkson wrote in The Times: “The theft, for example, is extraordinary. People seem to have it in their heads that if they come in for a pint they are entitled to go home with the glass in which it was served.
“Last Sunday, 104 went missing. And that cost must be added to the £100 a day we spend on fuel for the generator, the £400 a week it costs to provide warmth on the terrace and the £27,000 a month we must spend on parking and traffic marshals to keep the council off our back.
Done with business
Nearing being a pub landlord for a year, Clarkson admitted he was done with business. He said: “I am not starting another business as long as I live.”
So it looks like The Farmer’s Dog pub could be his last business venture. “I’m done with business now,” the Clarkson’s Farm star explained to The Times. “I don’t understand it and am not motivated by money. I just want a good craic.”
Clarkson is juggling a successful roaster of businesses including his brewer Hawkstone, the Clarkson’s Farm show and Diddly Squat farm shop.
On the face of it, the farm and the pub may not make big money on their own. But they both take starring roles in his big money maker, the Prime Video series, Clarkson’s Farm.
