Jeremy Clarkson: ‘I'm never starting another business'
Jeremy Clarkson, the television presenter turned farming entrepreneur, has called time on any future commercial ventures, saying: 'I am not starting another business as long as I live.'
Clarkson, 65, said that the Farmer's Dog pub in the Cotswolds, which is central to his most recent Amazon series, will be his final venture. Speaking to The Times before the publication on Friday of this year's Sunday Times 100, he added: 'I'm done with business now.'
Hawkstone, Clarkson's brewing interest, features in the annual ranking of Britain's fastest-growing private companies, having almost tripled its revenues to £21.3 million in the past year.
Sitting upstairs in his pub, which overlooks the Windrush valley near Burford, west Oxfordshire, Clarkson said he didn't 'get' business, despite making millions from creating and fronting TV shows such as The Grand Tour: 'I don't understand it and am not motivated by money. I just want a good craic.'
He remains ambitious for his existing ventures, which range from Clarkson's Farm, the hit Amazon show now in its fourth series, the lucrative shop on his Diddly Squat farm, the pub and Hawkstone, in which he is the largest shareholder.
While Clarkson loves the beer — 'Oh, this is so good,' he said, sipping a pint of Hawkstone Bounder — he is less keen on the paperwork. 'I have to go to board meetings where people talk in a foreign language. We don't even drink there, we're so busy using acronyms. 'In Q1 with the Ebitda running at 15 and Y-o-Y growth of …'. Y-o-Y do I go to board meetings?' he quipped.
Clarkson opens the Farmer's Dog
ANDREW FOX FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
He is, however, taking on one big new project next year: hosting a large arable farming trade show, Cereals, at Diddly Squat. This year's Cereals event was attended by 20,000 people when it took place in Lincolnshire earlier this month.
Hawkstone has suffered several product recalls. In April this year it recalled cans of Hawkstone Black and Hawkstone Spa Lager after the Food Standards Agency picked up that they contained wheat, which was not mentioned on the label. This presented a health risk for anyone with an intolerance to wheat or gluten, or with coeliac disease, the regulator explained.
• Jeremy Clarkson: 'Every customer in my new pub loses me £10'
The Cotswold Brewing Company, the business behind the Hawkstone brand, said at the time that customer safety was of 'paramount importance … we take all issues regarding the production of our products extremely seriously.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The unassuming terraced house next to an award-winning fish and chip shop is a BROTHEL - so what goes on behind closed doors, as one resident reveals: 'Punters can see into our kitchen'
Nestled close to a popular ladies hairdresser and an award-winning chippie lies this unremarkable terraced house in a small town in Derbyshire. Every day, a regular trickle of locals file past it to walk the dog, buy chips or get their hair done, unaware of what goes on inside. Even residents who live directly opposite the anonymous house in the former coal mining town of Ilkeston seem to have no idea of why men - and it is always men - regularly turn up at the front door, often looking furtive or cagey. Perhaps the first clue as to what lies within comes from the front windows which, unusually, are tinted - and then there is the sign on the front door which instructs visitors to 'please use the other entrance at rear'. A quick walk around the corner, down a side road and a left turn into a tight alleyway brings them to an unlocked gate and on heading into the small patio yard, continue past a washing line hung with bed sheets and towels to another door where a second sign asks callers to 'knock loudly' on the back door. And what awaits the male visitors who make it to this point? Those entering this portal will be met by a glamorous-looking madam who will then show them to a waiting room where one or two 'masseuses' are on hand to provide discrete personal services. Welcome to Spangles - Ilkeston's secret brothel. Located on a side street just off the town's main drag, the business, which is branded as a massage parlour but has nothing in the way of signage, has been in operation there for at least the last seven-years since moving from nearby Nottingham. It opens seven days a week at 10am and closes by 6pm. This means it is competing for any passing lunchtime trade with Kerry's Fish and Chips, two doors down on the corner - which still proudly announces how it was voted best chippie in Ilkeston in 2011. The street around Spangles is a mixture of residential and business with an accountants office, Thai restaurant and Polish supermarket as well as a legitimate massage parlour. Staff at the Headrock ladies hairdressers and the Simply Beauty parlour immediately to the left of Spangles had no idea of what lurked on the other side of their walls until this week. One woman having her hair set said: 'I just thought it was a normal house.' Yet a cursory glance at Spangles' official website would leave them with no doubts about what actually happens within. 'Experience the luxury of our exquisite massage services provided by the finest masseuses in the industry' trumpets the Spangles homepage. 'With a perfect blend of elegance and style, our talented ladies are dedicated to delivering an exceptional no-rush service that guarantees you will leave with a smile. 'Each day, we feature two or more enticing masseuses, showcasing a diverse selection of beauty—from slim and leggy blondes to voluptuous brunettes. 'Whether you prefer curvy or slim, tall or petite, our team, aged from their early 20s to late 30s, is here to cater to your desires and provide a rejuvenating experience tailored just for you. 'Indulge yourself and let us take care of you!' The girls who have suitably exotic names like 'Tia', 'Isabella ' and Sienna' are pictured in various states of undress, some leave very little to the imagination while others are a little more demure, though all faces are either hidden or blurred. Spangles includes a schedule of which girls are available on which day. When MailOnline called this week, the two masseuses on duty were 39-year-old blonde Lisa, who is seen nude in her publicity photo but covers her modesty with a large coffee table book and brunette Heidi, 26 who poses topless in white and black lingerie. Both thankfully are 'fully qualified in Level 3 full body massage'. However when we called the mobile number given on the website we were told that Heidi had gone home for the day and only Lisa was available. A 15-minute 'quickie' was £60, we learned, while a half-hour session would cost £80 or £90 if the client wanted a room with an en-suite bathroom to wash up in afterwards. So is all this legal? Technically no. Under British law, a brothel is classed as any premise - be it flat, house or massage parlour - where more than one person sells sexual services. Although It is not illegal to sell sexual services or work in a brothel it is an offence to 'keep, manage, act or assist in the management of a brothel.' The sentence is a fine or seven years in prison. Assisting in the management of a brothel can include keeping books, paying bills, holding keys and handling and logging money coming in from clients. But in reality, these long-standing laws are rarely if ever enforced. This is because the latest guidance from the National Police Chiefs' Council states: 'Brothel closures and raids create a mistrust of all external agencies . . . it is difficult to rebuild trust and ultimately reduces the amount of intelligence submitted to the police and puts sex workers at greater risk.' But even if no one is going from Derbyshire police is going to be knocking on the shop door anytime soon - the stigma attached to the business, because of its nature, is obvious. A young mother who asked not to be named lives in a flat close by with her young son and said that over the course of the last two days some 20 or so men had visited the brothel. She said: 'You can tell them a mile-off. 'They do all they can to be inconspicuous. Some pretend to be on the phone and walk down the side street and pause by the alleyway. 'I see them looking around to see who is about and if anyone clocks them, they walk straight on and pretend they're going somewhere else but really they just go round the block and come back. When the coast is clear they'll go in. 'Some are in ten minutes, others come out half an hour so later. But when they emerge from the alleyway, their heads are down and they're in a rush to get away. 'I tease them sometimes and shout things like 'you dirty tramp!'. None ever look up, they're off like a shot. 'You get a mixture of blokes who go there. Some are in their 20s and 30s and others around 60. Some are good looking and well dressed and others are scruffy who look as though they've never known the sweet embrace of a woman. 'The brothel is hidden away down the bottom of the alley. People walk past that place and have no idea what's going on inside. 'I've known about it for about six or seven years - it's the only one I know of in Ilkeston. 'I think on average I must see about 10 punters visiting there a day - although I'm sure there's a lot more who go through the door. 'But I don't like it being so close to my home. I live here with my little son. I think it's appalling that such a place exists - I wish it would be shut down.' Apprentice electrician Alfie Perkins, 21, moved into a terraced house behind the brothel with his partner in February. They had no idea that sex workers were plying their trade there but Alfie said: 'We see men going in all the time. 'At first we thought it was a block of flats but the men sometimes wait in the yard for others to come out first. 'There's never any women. It makes perfect sense now that I know what that place is. 'My partner wants to get tinted windows at the back of the house because she doesn't like the fact the punters can see into our kitchen. 'To be fair, though, there's never been any trouble there whatsoever and there's not much noise from people coming or going from the premises. 'It's funny, someone told me the other day that there was a massage parlour around here…I didn't realise it was just behind us.' A trucker in his 50s who lives a few doors down from Alfie but who wished to remain anonymous said the brothel used ingenious ways to let punters know it was open for business. He told us: 'You wouldn't know it was even there, they're very, very discreet. 'There's no signage outside, no red-light or anything like that. What they do sometimes is one of the girls will drape fluorescent workmen trousers out of an upstairs window. It's a code that they're open and ready for business. 'I've walked past and seen the trousers myself several times. There's always a lot of activity at the back of my house with blokes heading in and out. 'There used to be music playing and in the summer with the windows open you'd hear it from the street. I think they got some complaints so they stopped. 'It doesn't really bother me too much that it's there. People using their services tend to keep a low profile… for obvious reasons.' Spangles has 56 reviews on Punternet - a US-based website dubbed the 'Blue Pages' or 'Thrustpilot' in which men compare experiences of various working women. The reviews - only a handful of which are less than positive - date all the way back to December 2006, when the business was based at a health spa and sauna above a parade of shops on the Derby Road near the centre of Nottingham, where it remained until 2018 before moving to Ilkeston. One punter - who calls himself 'andybaby' on Punternet - wrote: 'Spangles is great. Easy parking behind the shops where nobody can see you get out your car and enter. 'Nice shower and changing facilities. The rooms are basic with just a massage table but they are clean.' Another client -'hxxx' - who had half an hour with two of the girl - provided a fascinating insight into trip. He wrote: 'Spangles is a really friendly place. Everyone who works there is very welcoming and the receptionist is a star. 'The rooms are rather small (barely big enough for a massage table) and the piped radio is annoying (it was quite surreal to hear the traffic report during a live lesbian sex show) but I love this place all the same. It's safe and clean.' According to the Land Registry the house that Spangles is based in belongs to former electrical contractor turned property investor Martyn Kelk. Mr Kelk, 62, bought the property for £60,000 at auction in 2018. In 2017 his then company Premier Electrical Services - which he sold a year later - was the shirt sponsor for League Two football side Notts County. He lives in a sprawling farmhouse 20-miles from Ilkeston in the Nottinghamshire village of Owthorpe. Mr Kelk is currently in Greece on holiday but he told the Mail this week of his shock: 'I had no idea that the property was being used in such a way. 'The person who runs the business and who rents the property from me is listed on my accounts as a beauty therapist. 'Once a tenant signs the lease I don't tend to hear from them unless there's a problem. I haven't been to the site for years as it's nearly an hour away from my home. 'When I bought the property, it was in a dilapidated state and I spent a year renovating it. The person who runs the business has been a tenant for about six years, I don't have the paperwork with me so I can't tell you how long the lease has left to run. 'But do I need to kick them out? A good friend of mine is a police officer, I may have to ask him for advice.' A spokeswoman for Spangles insisted they were a legitimate massage business and strongly denied that their masseuses every carry out any sexual services. They also said they had not deceived anyone over their lease.
The Sun
44 minutes ago
- The Sun
Michelin-starred Gordon Ramsay protégé to shut his first ever restaurant after 11 ‘incredible' years of trading
A MICHELIN-STARRED chef has announced the closure of his debut restaurant. The founder trained under Gordon Ramsay, and at the three-Michelin-starred John-Georges in New York. 3 3 3 The Edinburgh-based Aizle is set to close later this year on September 21. Stuart Ralston first opened the restaurant on St Leonard's Street in 2014. A description in the Michelin Guide read: "The constantly evolving menu takes on a surprise tasting format and is presented to diners as 'The Harvest', a list of produce to be featured in the meal rather than exact dish names." It follows Stuart's emphasis on incorporating local and seasonal goods in his menus - with some dishes available for several weeks and "others just a few" according to Aizle's website. Their most recent 'harvest' included items like guinea fowl, black garlic, quince and salted milk which came together in a blind tasting menu. Ralston announced Aizle's closure on social media. He wrote: "When I first opened the doors on St Leonard's Street in 2014 as a young chef, Aizle was born out of a desire to build something different, challenge me as a young chef and provide a place people would choose to work. "I wanted to work with producers who really care about what they grow and make people happy with our food. "Over the past 11 years, we have moved homes, met brilliant people along the way and grown into something to be proud of." Ralston added that the closure would give him more time to focus on his other restaurants, in addition to a new project. Popular food reviewer gives his thoughts on Scotland's 'most expensive restaurant' He went on to thank the "incredible, dedicated team, past and present", and said that he hopes to continue working with them. The restaurant relocated to the Garden Room at the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel. In 2018 it moved to a four-day week to reduce stress and staff burnout. He has since opened several other restaurants in the city, including Noto and Tipo, both of which hold Michelin Bib Gourmands and which will be unaffected by the closure. Earlier this year, his restaurant Lyla, was awarded a Michelin star. Vouchers which had been purchased for Aizle can still be redeemed at Ralston's other restaurants. Commenters on social media expressed sadness at the restaurant's closure, as well as excitement for Stuart's future projects. One wrote: "So sad I never got to eat at Aizle! And excited for all that's to come." Another said: "Such an iconic restaurant in the Edinburgh food scene." While another added: "To this day the best dining experience I've had." What is happening to the hospitality industry? By Laura McGuire, consumer reporter MANY Food and drink chains have been struggling in recently as the cost of living has led to fewer people spending on eating out. Businesses had been struggling to bounce back after the pandemic, only to be hit with soaring energy bills and inflation. Multiple chains have been affected, resulting in big-name brands like Wetherspoons and Frankie & Benny's closing branches. Some chains have not survived, Byron Burger fell into administration last year, with owners saying it would result in the loss of over 200 jobs. Pizza giant, Papa Johns is shutting down 43 of its stores soon. Tasty, the owner of Wildwood, said it will shut sites as part of major restructuring plans
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Meet the glamlords: the couple keeping creativity alive
There are slum landlords, and there are glam landlords. Geoffrey Pope, 90, and Christopher Ryan, 82, fall firmly into the latter category. When I meet the couple in their Brighton coach house, it feels like I am walking into a cross between the Liberace museum and the Old Curiosity Shop. Filled with gold cherubs, chandeliers, baroque mirrors, candelabra, leopard print, Chinese screens, china dogs, Roman busts and mirror balls, it's surely Brighton's most glamorous home. At ten o'clock on a Friday morning, it seems entirely appropriate when Ryan offers me a glass of champagne. 'You can tell we're not minimalistic,' Ryan says, wearing big cherry-red glasses that Dame Edna would have coveted, and a polka dot blouse. 'It's just a modest humble abode.' 'There should be a touch of theatre in everything,' Pope adds. Their decor may have hints of Marie Antoinette, but they're far from ruthless. Not only are they glamorous landlords, they're also generous. Round the corner from their coach house they own a mews, comprising Victorian stables with 12 workshops and a one-bedroom flat. The couple rent to creatives, at below market rent, and over the past ten years they've only raised the rent once. During Covid they told tenants, 'Pay us what you can.' At a time when artists are being priced out of cities, and are losing affordable workspace, the couple are providing a lifeline. The average commercial rent has risen 39.71 per cent in five years in Brighton, according to the estate agency Knight Frank; the average residential rent has risen 44 per cent in the past ten years, according to Hamptons. 'Our idea is that if you look after people, and you're a good landlord, they'll be loyal to you. It's a harmonious situation,' Pope says. 'I love to see them getting on. You have to give people a leg-up.' One of the beneficiaries of their largesse is Kate Jenkins. In the 1990s Jenkins, 53, a knitwear designer, was renting a studio in Hoxton, east London. 'And then all of sudden there was a dotcom boom, my rent tripled, and I remember thinking, I'm going to have to find something else to do.' Jenkins ended up in Brighton, and in 2004 she walked past the mews and saw a 'for rent' sign. She has been renting a workshop from the couple ever since, and in 2014 moved into their mews flat. Jenkins has been the linchpin when it comes to recruiting fellow creatives to rent in the mews. Before the artists arrived, the couple were having trouble with their tenants. 'We've had a few conmen,' Ryan says. The couple bought the coach house in 1989 for £220,000 after selling their Brighton antiques shop, Follies, which they lived above. The coach house was a garage with a flat on top and they converted it into a three-bedroom house. As part of the deal they also bought the mews. In the beginning the couple rented the workshops to a motley crew of car mechanics, electricians, spare parts dealers and, unbeknown to them, a prostitute who ran a brothel. 'We had a spate of terrible tenants,' Pope says. 'One chap was a Walter Mitty type, and he owed us £35,000 when he left. People came and went. We've had to take people to court and get bailiffs.' The couple hoped that the rental income would be their pension, but many workshops sat empty. 'That was 1989, and we hit the recession,' Ryan says. 'Everyone was holding on by their fingernails. Geoff said we're going to have to get back into business, because we weren't earning anything.' • Read more expert advice on property, interiors and home improvement The couple had run pubs together. They met in London 60 years ago — Ryan was the first male hairdresser in Peter Jones department store, Pope worked in window display at a men's suit shop in Soho — before opening a pub in Wiltshire, then Chichester and then a restaurant in Arundel, West Sussex. They moved to Brighton in 1983. In 1992 they bought Brighton's Regency Tavern and created a popular venue with a curious USP — a pub with camp decor that also served real ale ('we were open to everyone, from mink coats to overalls,' Ryan says). The couple sold it in 2004, the same year that Jenkins arrived in the mews, attracting a stream of creatives, including Julie Nelson, a ceramicist, Bip-Art, a printmaker and workshop, East Side Print, the framer and gallerist Thomas Rainsford and an artisanal coffee roaster. 'From our experience the creatives are less trouble as tenants,' Ryan says. 'It just seems to work better.' These are tough times for artists. One in three British ones doubt that they will be able to continue to work professionally in five years' time, according to a 2023 survey by Acme, an arts charity. Jenkins says many of her contemporaries have been priced out of the city. 'There's nowhere for creatives to go. It's really sad.' • Priced-out, stressed-out creatives are fleeing London for Glasgow Jenkins pays £780 a month inclusive for her 700 sq ft studio. By contrast, her artist friend who couldn't find space in town pays £1,550 plus VAT for a similar-sized studio in Portslade, about five miles from Brighton centre. Pope and Ryan don't regret missing out on thousands of pounds of rent. 'Happiness is more important,' Pope says. 'Knowing you've helped people along. I mean, I don't want to sound like a goody two-shoes. I'm not. I'm a businessman too, but I'm not a hard-headed businessman.' The couple, who married in 2015, paid off their mortgage long ago. 'We're earning enough to make our life comfortable,' Ryan says. 'It sounds very Mary Poppins but we're not greedy. Better to have these tenants on the regular than all the rubbish we had before with people doing runners.' The tenants know how lucky they are — few ever leave. 'There's zero affordable space in Brighton,' says Cath Bristow from East Side Print. 'Without the rent we pay, we wouldn't be able to survive.' Helen Brown from Bip-Art agrees. 'Brighton has always been an artistic community, so if everyone is priced out it becomes a soulless place,' she says. 'We're blessed to have landlords who want to create an artists' community, rather than just taking the highest bidder. They know how much effort is required to run a business. In their lives they've had their nose to the grindstone, they've got their hands dirty.' • Why private landlords are quitting the rental sector Indeed, at the couple's first pub in Wiltshire in 1969 there were no flushing lavatories, only buckets in garden sheds, and it was Ryan's job to empty them every Saturday night. 'If you knew what we've had to do in our lives,' Pope says. There are benefits for the couple too in having created this harmonious community in their golden years. Jenkins says: 'Everyone in the mews always keeps a lookout to see if Chris and Geoff are OK, although they are such a young couple in their approach to life they often seem younger than us.' The mews has a family atmosphere. Pope and Ryan check on the progress of the artists; every year they all get together for Christmas dinner. The couple have proudly watched Jenkins's career grow from knitwear to food-themed knitted artwork, including a full English breakfast made entirely from wool. She has exhibited in London, New York, Hong Kong and Germany. 'It gives me a thrill to know that people like Kate are succeeding,' Pope says. 'I feel proud. She could be like a daughter.' Jenkins says the mews has transformed her life. 'I would not have been able to achieve what I've done without this place. There have been times when I've had no money and they've helped me out by saying, don't worry, pay me next month. It's all those little things that have helped me become established.' Jenkins and her partner, Mo, who ships vinyl records, moved into the mews's one residential flat in 2014. Pope and Ryan insisted on interviewing him first. 'It was almost like he was meeting my parents, or asking for my hand in marriage,' Jenkins recalls. 'Mo was so nervous.' Pope thinks of the mews as his family, Ryan says. 'Geoff is very emotionally involved. He worries about what's going to happen to them if he dies.' The tenants too are worried that a new landlord will not be so benevolent. Jenkins says: 'We don't talk about [the future]. It's the elephant in the room. They're such great landlords and we're so lucky.' The couple say what sets them apart from most landlords is that their tenants are their neighbours; they have a vested interest in keeping them sweet. Do they think all landlords should follow their lead? 'If you're a hard-headed landlord, you're going to be that and you can't change what you are,' Pope says. 'But I think you go through life and you learn. You have to have humanity. Knowing how to treat people as you'd want to be treated yourself. That's my motto.' Landlords of Britain, take note.
