Latest news with #ClarksonsFarm
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jeremy Clarkson admits to struggling with pub business
Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that the pub he recently opened will be his last entrepreneurial venture as he 'doesn't understand' business. The Grand Tour star, whose Prime Video series Clarkson's Farm is one of the service's most-streamed TV shows, extended his business empire in July 2024, taking over rural country pub The Windmill in Asthall – a 'village boozer' on five acres of countryside near Burford. He made the purchase after finding success with his now-famous, 1000-acre Diddly Squat farm and accompanying shop, which is run by the TV personality's wife, Lisa Hogan. The purchase of his pub, which is called The Farmer's Dog, features in the latest series of Clarkson's Farm – but he has now ruled out any similar ventures in the future. 'I'm done with business now,' he said in a new interview with The Times. 'I am not starting another business as long as I live.' Clarkson admitted: 'I don't understand it and am not motivated by money. I just want a good craic.' The TV personality is now producing a TV series showcasing his efforts to be a pub landlord – much in the same way Clarkson's Farm shows his travails of running Diddly Squat. But his efforts in purchasing the boozer were revealed in Clarkson's Farm, which unveiled the hilarious meaning of its name, The Farmer's Dog, in the latest season. In episode four, Clarkson is shown reading through documentation received from the lawyer handling the pub's purchase, and he learns that the surrounding Oxfordshire area is regularly frequented by people who enjoy having sex in semi-secluded public spaces. The episode shows Clarkson discover that the entirety of the pub's garden area is designated by the council as 'a picnic site' – a detail that he said became 'blurred and confusing' when he continued to read through the file. After calling his lawyer, Clarkson is told that the site previously attracted some 'unwanted and anti-social behaviour' that 'might put you off eating your picnic'. When Clarkson asked if this activity was centred around the public toilets, the lawyer said: 'We have happened upon some quite interesting photographs which capture certain graffiti and certain goings-on.' Upon inspecting the area, Clarkson discovered the activity was still going on, after finding underwear strewn about in trees. Clarkson first revealed the dogging revelation in a video shared on Instagram that saw him standing outside the pub, holding up a stick with a pair of black and pink knickers dangling off the end. He wrote: 'Tell me you bought a pub on a dogging site without telling me you bought a pub on a dogging site.' He also said he was surprised that West Oxfordshire district council approved his plans to transform the 'famous dogging site' that is 'full of dead rats' into a 'fun' village watering hole.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jeremy Clarkson admits to struggling with pub business
Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that the pub he recently opened will be his last entrepreneurial venture as he 'doesn't understand' business. The Grand Tour star, whose Prime Video series Clarkson's Farm is one of the service's most-streamed TV shows, extended his business empire in July 2024, taking over rural country pub The Windmill in Asthall – a 'village boozer' on five acres of countryside near Burford. He made the purchase after finding success with his now-famous, 1000-acre Diddly Squat farm and accompanying shop, which is run by the TV personality's wife, Lisa Hogan. The purchase of his pub, which is called The Farmer's Dog, features in the latest series of Clarkson's Farm – but he has now ruled out any similar ventures in the future. 'I'm done with business now,' he said in a new interview with The Times. 'I am not starting another business as long as I live.' Clarkson admitted: 'I don't understand it and am not motivated by money. I just want a good craic.' The TV personality is now producing a TV series showcasing his efforts to be a pub landlord – much in the same way Clarkson's Farm shows his travails of running Diddly Squat. But his efforts in purchasing the boozer were revealed in Clarkson's Farm, which unveiled the hilarious meaning of its name, The Farmer's Dog, in the latest season. In episode four, Clarkson is shown reading through documentation received from the lawyer handling the pub's purchase, and he learns that the surrounding Oxfordshire area is regularly frequented by people who enjoy having sex in semi-secluded public spaces. The episode shows Clarkson discover that the entirety of the pub's garden area is designated by the council as 'a picnic site' – a detail that he said became 'blurred and confusing' when he continued to read through the file. After calling his lawyer, Clarkson is told that the site previously attracted some 'unwanted and anti-social behaviour' that 'might put you off eating your picnic'. When Clarkson asked if this activity was centred around the public toilets, the lawyer said: 'We have happened upon some quite interesting photographs which capture certain graffiti and certain goings-on.' Upon inspecting the area, Clarkson discovered the activity was still going on, after finding underwear strewn about in trees. Clarkson first revealed the dogging revelation in a video shared on Instagram that saw him standing outside the pub, holding up a stick with a pair of black and pink knickers dangling off the end. He wrote: 'Tell me you bought a pub on a dogging site without telling me you bought a pub on a dogging site.' He also said he was surprised that West Oxfordshire district council approved his plans to transform the 'famous dogging site' that is 'full of dead rats' into a 'fun' village watering hole.
The Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Clarkson's Farm gives update on fan-favourite star and they look VERY different
CLARKSON'S Farm fans have been left stunned after being given an update on a fan-favourite show star. The Diddly Squat Farm Instagram account left viewers of the Prime Video show gobsmacked when it uploaded a brand new video of one character looking very different. 5 5 Richard Ham, Jeremy Clarkson 's micro-pig, appeared to have more than doubled in size since being introduced to fans on the programme during the latest series. Jezza affectionately named the pig after his former Top Gear co-star Richard Hammond who took a trip to the Oxfordshire farm for the programme. Whilst Richard Ham was then rather a small pig - the new clip has proved that things are all change for the farmyard animal. Alongside a video clip of the pig sniffing and snorting around, a caption read: "Look who it is!!! It's Richard 'porker' Ham." Fans were left shocked at his size as they begged Jezza and his girlfriend Lisa Hogan to keep the pig and look after him as they begged for him not to be turned into meat. One person said: "Yayy! I'm so glad Richard Ham is still with you, keep him forever!" Another added: "Oh Hurrah! Richard Ham is still around - please keep him or let him go to a petting farm, where he can live a happy life." A third then said: "He's gorgeous…. Please don't send me off to the meat packers….. please, please, please keep him….. "I'm not a veggie either but I do love him." Before someone else chimed in: "Blimey not so little Richard anymore." Jeremy Clarkson brings back beloved part of Clarkson's Farm after U-turn Jeremy previously revealed that he would be keeping the pig at the farm in order for it to make friends with the female pigs he owned. He confessed he was hoping Richard was able to get the next lot of female pigs 'in the mood' — and is likened to late Playboy boss Hugh Hefner. Jeremy says: 'The problem is, if he goes on the lorry, he's killed and all we get in return is chipolata and a pork chop the size of a walnut. 'If he stays here, we've got to feed him for no reason. 'And that's not farming. 'But the next lot of sows, we're going to use artificial insemination on them, to make them pregnant. 'But we can't do that until they get in heat and they won't get in heat unless there's man pig nearby. 'So why don't we keep him as the farm's man pig, to get the ladies in the mood? 'Good old Richard Ham — you could be Hugh Hefner now!' Clarkson's Farm series guide By Conor O'Brien, TV Reporter Clarkson's Farm airs on Prime Video and follows TV personality Jeremy Clarkson as he manages his Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds. Three series have been released to date and here is an overview of what has happened so far. Series 1 Jeremy takes over the day-to-day running of the newly renamed Diddly Squat Farm. Lisa Hogan, Kaleb Cooper, "Cheerful Charlie" Ireland and Gerald Cooper are also introduced. Jeremy starts to assemble what he needs for his farm - as well as laying the groundwork for things to come later. He buys key equipment including a tractor and cultivator, as well as taking on sheep and opening a farm shop. Jeremy takes over the day-to-day running of the newly renamed Diddly Squat Farm. Series 2 This series sees Jeremy look for ways to increase the farm's revenue. One such example is bringing in a herd of cows although this isn't without its issues. Jeremy also had the idea to convert the abandoned lambing barn into a restaurant where he could sell his meat from the farm. For this plan to move forward, he had to get planning permission from the local council. Viewers also meet Pepper, a heifer among the herd who ultimately becomes the star's favourite. Series 3 The third series contained some of the show's most emotional moments to date. In heartbreaking scenes, dozens of newborn piglets died as a result of overlaying - their mother rolling on to them. Jeremy said goodbye to his favourite pig - the Baroness - after she developed cancer and needed to be put down. Dry stonewall expert and "head of security" Gerald Cooper was diagnosed with cancer. Jeremy and Kaleb began a competition between themselves - with Kaleb looking after the arable side and Jeremy taking the non-arable elements. Fellow farmers - and famous faces - Andy Cato and George Lamb appear in this series 5 5
Times
a day ago
- Business
- Times
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.'
Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Jeremy Clarkson: ‘I want to put Peroni out of business'
It's 1pm on a gloriously sunny Friday and it appears that most of Britain has downed tools and headed to the Farmer's Dog in west Oxfordshire. Children in pushchairs compete for space on the narrow footpaths with hairy bikers and young couples holding hands. 'Goodness me,' says one elderly man navigating the crowds while carrying 12 bottles of Hawkstone lager that he's just bought from the shop in the pub garden. Jeremy Clarkson owns the pub and is Hawkstone's largest shareholder. He also owns a nearby farm, Diddly Squat, and all three feature prominently in his Amazon TV series, Clarkson's Farm. Hence the crowds today. The former Top Gear presenter arrives in good spirits via the staff entrance and pops up the back stairs to an area known as the Farmers' Clubhouse, where Owen Jenkins, the managing director of Hawkstone, and Johnny Hornby, Clarkson's fellow shareholder in the brewery, a friend and a marketing whizz, are waiting. Hornby pours three and a half pints of Bounder, the latest Hawkstone brew. It's a 4.2 per cent Helles golden lager and it tastes wonderfully crisp on a hot day. • Explore the Sunday Times 100 — interviews, company profiles and more The question is: will Clarkson enjoy it too? He's on Mounjaro, the weight-loss drug, and is looking better for it. It has put him off snacking. His approach to a pint, though, is altogether more determined: 'You have to fight it. Don't give in,' he urges Hornby, who is also injecting and is the one sitting with the half pint. Clarkson says he pictures the Danish scientist [Lotte Bjerre Knudsen] whose research led to the development of injectable weight-loss drugs in this battle of wits. 'It's not just enjoying the pint. It's the fact I've beaten [her],' he adds gleefully. He takes a guilt-free glug of Bounder. 'Oh, this is so good. Jaguar should be marketing this as Jags are for bounders — Terry-Thomas,' he adds, referring to the character actor and setting the tone for the interview. Ably assisted by his Bounder, Clarkson tackles the perception that he's really only lent his name to Hawkstone; that it's neither something he is passionate about, nor any good. 'Some people assume it is a Ryan Reynolds-backed, Kylie Minogue-backed liquid. There is a polite look on their faces and they think, I'll take a swig and say 'well done', in a patronising way. But there is always this moment where they go, 'Actually, that is f***ing good.'' Ploughing on, he suggests Minogue's wine may not be a winner. 'You buy Kylie's rosé because you are a Kylie fan — you have it once and then go back to proper rosé. With Hawkstone, it is demonstrably better than anything from Italy, Germany, Spain or America.' The recently knighted David Beckham gets it in the neck next. 'I'm going to betray a loyalty here. This is from David,' he says, reading out an exchange on a messaging app. 'I said congratulations [on Beckham's selection to guest edit Country Life magazine] and he replied, 'Thanks for your message; not official yet, but if it happens I'll have a nice pint of Stella.'' Clarkson pauses for effect, raising a bushy eyebrow. 'You had better f***ing not' was his straightforward reply, before adding his punchline: 'If he is going to drink anything that's not Hawkstone, it should be Beck's.' Hornby joins in. 'Is he Belgian? If he is, then that's fine. Does he come from a long line of Belgian farmers that he's trying to help? If so, that is completely noble.' The glasses are now half empty, but the laughing is getting louder. Having put Beckham and Minogue in their place, Clarkson turns to Hawkstone, the Cotswold brewery in which he acquired his stake in 2021. 'It's the grown-up element of the whole operation,' he says. 'You have the farm shop, the pub and TV show, which are all entertainment. Hawkstone is grown-up as I have to go to board meetings where people talk in a foreign language. We don't even drink in board meetings, we are so busy using acronyms. 'In Q1 with the Ebitda running at 15 and YoY growth of …' YoY do I go to board meetings?' he asks. Later he makes clear that the Farmer's Dog, which now employs 146 people, will be his last 'business'. 'I'm done with business now. I am not starting another business as long as I live. I don't understand it and am not motivated by money. I just want a good craic.' The Bounder we are drinking is a spring special made with experimental hops grown in Britain. Hornby says they hope the demand Hawkstone is creating will help to turn around the industry's fortunes: 'The British hops industry has been in steady decline, but the amount we have now started to do with British hops could add 30 per cent to the size of the industry next year,' he says. The 'grown in Britain' bit is important to them all. Four of the eight beers and ciders on tap at the Farmer's Dog are made from '100 per cent British' ingredients, Hornby says. Clarkson adds: 'Hopefully, everybody benefits from Hawkstone, the Farmer's Dog and Diddly Squat. Whether you are growing black pepper in Cornwall or barley in Scotland, it is all backing British farming. We were stuck on hops, but if we can say to the hop growers of Britain that we have enough demand to make it worth your while expanding your hops business, then that would make me incredibly happy.' Hawkstone is now available in 2,000 pubs, up from 500 last summer, and is also stocked in Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Ocado and Majestic Wine. Of the larger pub groups, Young's is trialling it at 30 of its pubs: Simon Dodd, the chief executive, made a point of highlighting it as one of its most exciting new beers, alongside fruit-beer maker Jubel, which is also on this year's Sunday Times 100 (No 47). • The Clarkson's Farm effect: convincing us to buy British produce Hawkstone's sales almost tripled from £7.8 million in 2024 to £21.3 million in the year to this March. The plan for the rest of 2025? 'Sell tons of beer and put Peroni out of business,' Clarkson replies. 'I want the Peroni board saying, 'What the hell has gone wrong? We're selling nothing in the UK.' I want total domination of the British lager market.' He'll allow Carling to continue, an admission that Hawkstone is at the top end of beer pricing — a few pubs have delisted Hawkstone because it is more expensive than other options. To cope with demand, Hawkstone works with partners such as the Glasgow-based Wellpark, home to Tennent's and part of C&C Group, where its Hawkstone Premium lager is brewed. The Herefordshire-based Weston family, makers of Henry Westons Cider and Stowford Press, produce the Hawkstone ciders, which are endorsed by Kaleb Cooper, Clarkson's co-star on Clarkson's Farm. A small Oxfordshire distillery, Wood Brothers, makes Hawkstone gin and vodka. Meanwhile, Clarkson's farm, Diddly Squat, will host a massive event next June, Clarkson says, providing another opportunity to flog more Hawkstone. 'We are hosting Cereals, which will be enormous.' I query what it is. 'I'd never heard of it either, but it's a trade [event] for 25,000, 30,000 farmers. It is usually in Cambridgeshire [it was actually held in Lincolnshire this year], and they go to a farm and they look at wheat and talk about fertiliser. It's coming to Diddly Squat next year.' And then he gets to the point of the story. 'Kaleb is panicking. If every farmer in the country comes and he has done all the farming, they'll be checking his work.' Clarkson then becomes more thoughtful. He's been pondering the role of pubs in towns and villages, given the rate of attrition in recent years. 'It's been playing on my mind,' he begins. 'If you no longer have a village doctor, policeman, school, shop, vicar and if you lose the pub, then what is a village? It is just a collection of houses.' He has a campaign in mind, and already has a slogan: 'Go to your local pub on your way home from work.' His idea is that people can reconnect and perhaps even disconnect, for a moment, from the rush of modern life. It might even make people happier. 'Just have a pint, a chat with someone. It is a bit less time scrolling on social media, a bit less time sitting with your non-communicative children. Go and have a pint. It is a sensible and nice thing to do. It benefits the individual, the pub. Even in London. If you come out of the Tube station, don't go home. Stop off at the pub you walk past every night.' And off he goes into the sunshine, walking the boards of his own pub.
