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Jeremy Clarkson admitted he was “wrong” about his new pub after being warned about the current difficulty of making money in the hospitality industry.
The old Higher speed And Grand Tour open host The farmer’s dog in Augustpaying less than £1 million for the property formerly known as The Windmill, in Asthall, near Burford in Oxfordshire.
The popular reception to the pub echoes the success of Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm shop, which attracts tourists from across the country due to its importance in its area. Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm.
However, in an article for The timesthe 64-year-old shared some of the honest experiences he had just months after opening the venue.
Clarkson claims that although he was warned of the high number of UK pub closureshow difficult it would be to make money having only a British food menu and finding staff after Brexit, he thought “everything would be fine”.
“I was wrong,” he says before describing in detail an accident one of his customers had in the toilet.
“No visit to the festival would prepare you for the horror of what happened at Farmer’s Dog,” Clarkson writes. “It was everywhere and in such quantities that no ordinary plumbing or cleaning equipment could even scratch the surface. »
He then admits that he had to hire “chemically trained hazardous materials engineers” to solve the problem.
Clarkson says it’s “maddening how much effort goes into making so little money on the farm”, adding: “It’s worse at the pub.” The customers arrive. There is no problem there. But turning their visits into profit is almost impossible.
As well as this, Clarkson also elaborates on the problems he had with the pub’s Christmas tree, beer, holiday turkeys and even the ‘Farmers’ Clubhouse’ neon sign that ‘he has outside.
However, although he declares that “everything is a total disaster”, he ends on a positive note, saying that top chef Marco Pierre White “was overwhelmed by the quality of the food”.
He concludes by saying: “And it’s warm and there’s a fire and the staff are friendly and young and happy. It’s a real traditional pub. By that I mean you’re going to love it, and I’m going to lose a fortune and develop a skin disease from the stress of operating it.
When he opened the pub, Clarkson said it was the next best thing after he couldn’t open a restaurant on his farm.
“We wanted to have this restaurant on the farm last year and we couldn’t, and the pubs are all for sale,” he said.
“So we thought instead of building a restaurant we would buy a pub.”
Clarkson has faced backlash from people in West Oxfordshire over the years when he tried to expand his Diddly Squat farm project.
Some residents were concerned that the existence of the pub would cause local traffic problems as it is located next to the busy A40. But Oxfordshire County Council said it was working closely with Clarkson and his team to reduce the likelihood of traffic problems ahead of opening.