For nearly a year, Jeremy Clarkson’s Oxfordshire pub, The Farmer’s Dog, was a “no ketchup zone” – a bold culinary stance that sparked both admiration and outrage among his customers. Now, in a surprise U-turn, the Clarkson’s Farm star has caved in to overwhelming public demand, introducing a specially crafted, 100% British-made tomato sauce to the menu.
When the 65-year-old opened his Asthall-based watering hole in August 2024, he declared it would serve “exclusively British food.” That meant no Coca-Cola, no coffee – and, controversially, no ketchup. The reasoning was simple in Clarkson’s mind: most commercial ketchup uses tomatoes and other ingredients grown outside the UK, which went against his commitment to supporting British farmers.
But as the months rolled on, the ban on Britain’s most popular condiment became a running joke – and then a full-on customer campaign. According to the former Top Gear presenter, thousands of diners pleaded with him to change his mind, with some even suggesting they’d bring their own bottles. Eventually, the requests became so relentless that Clarkson’s team put up a sign in the pub telling patrons to stop asking.
Still, the ketchup lovers persisted. And their persistence has paid off.
Enter Condimaniac, a Chatham-based artisan sauce producer, which took Clarkson’s challenge personally. The company’s founder, Kier Kemp, said Clarkson’s ban inspired him to attempt something no one else in Britain had managed – creating a ketchup made entirely from British-grown ingredients.
“Making a 100% British ketchup after Jeremy Clarkson alerted us to the fact there wasn’t one was… really hard,” Kemp admitted in an Instagram video documenting the creation process. “It turned out to be really hard.”
After months of experimentation, the breakthrough came with a blend of tomato passata from the Isle of Wight, apple cider vinegar from Hampshire, salt from Essex, and sugar and onions sourced from across the UK. Even so, a purely British tomato puree proved impossible, so a second variety thickened with carrots and onions was developed alongside it.
The first batch – 1,700 bottles – will be available at both Clarkson’s Farmer’s Dog pub and his Diddly Squat Farm Shop in Chipping Norton starting Friday, 15 August. The sauce will also be sold at Clarkson’s butcher and bottle shop.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a man who once scoffed at the idea of serving ketchup. At the pub’s launch, Clarkson told customers:
“The menu changes – it’s whatever we’ve got. There’s no Coca-Cola, no coffee. Other pubs do coffee. We do British food. Everything you consume here – even the black pepper and the sugar – is grown by British farmers.”
Clarkson’s pub, housed in a building formerly known as The Windmill, was purchased for under £1 million. It quickly became another pillar of his agricultural empire alongside his 1,000-acre farm, Diddly Squat – the centrepiece of the hit Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm, which chronicles his often chaotic journey into farming life.
The opening wasn’t without controversy. Early visitors grumbled about the lack of prices on the menu, leading to speculation that dishes would cost significantly more than at other local pubs. When one cheeky fan on X/Twitter joked they might need to remortgage their home to buy a round of drinks, Clarkson shot back with his trademark bluntness:
“It’s £5.50 a pint.”
With ketchup now on the table, Clarkson may have made peace with at least one section of his customer base – though whether purists see this as a betrayal of his “only British food” ethos remains to be seen.
