The broadcasting farmer Jeremy Clarkson has bought a pub on what he describes as a “famous dogging site” in the Cotswolds.
Clarkson, 64, will focus on “British produce” at the Windmill in Asthall, which sits on five acres of countryside not far from upmarket Burford and within shooting distance of Soho Farmhouse. At the time of publishing, it has no name.
The business venture follows failed attempts to open a restaurant as part of his 1,000 acre farm, called Diddly Squat, and made famous thanks to his wildly popular Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm.
Clarkson revealed plans to run a “village boozer” inspired by 1970s Yorkshire in his Sunday Times column, and highlighted the importance of the pub trade in Britain.
Clarkson wrote that the trade is dying and that pubs are closing at the rate of around a thousand a year. After a lengthy search, he found one he deemed suitable.
“I’ve bought a pub. The first pub I looked at had a great deal of appeal. It was a 400-year-old coaching inn that in recent years had been an Indian restaurant and then a county lines meth lab. But it needed too much work. There was even a slug in the Britvic fizzy drinks dispenser. So I went on the hunt for an alternative.”
After viewing many — by his own estimate, 14,000 — the journalist “did a deal and then discovered that there was a famous dogging site in the area”.
Clarkson paid almost £1 million for the property, provisionally named the Clarkson’s Arms. Currently closed, the 15th century Oxfordshire pub and vaulted barn was until recently used as a wedding and banqueting venue.
Renovations are to begin soon and the former Top Gear host expects to be up and running by Christmas.
“There is some work to be done on the pub itself. For example, the cellar is too small, the gable end is falling down, the outside decking area is dangerous, the water is unfit for human consumption, the loft is full of dead rats and the lavatories are illegal.”
West Oxfordshire district council approved plans to transform the boozer into a “fun” village watering hole, which will be home to a clubhouse, bar billiards, darts and dominoes.
Food will be traditional, such as ham, egg and chips and shepherd’s pies, and on Sunday, classic roasts. There will be Clarkson’s own Hawkestone beer on tap, but no coffee or Coca Cola.
Also on the agenda will be free pints for farmers and a mental health forum for locals.
