Comment: Jeremy Clarkson buying a pub would be good news

With rumours circulating that writer, broadcaster and farmer Jeremy Clarkson will be turning his hand to the pub trade, Louis Thomas considers how this might be a major positive for the sector.

 

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It has been widely-reported in recent months that Clarkson is “in talks” to purchase the Coach and Horses Inn in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.

The Cotswolds pub is currently listed on Stonegate Group Pub Partners with a guide rent per week of £673, and a forecast annual turnover of £370,214. It comes complete with letting rooms, patio, and a beer garden – though the building’s poor state will reportedly require a £750,000 investment, the sort of money that the host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? might have to hand.

If there is truth to the stories, Clarkson would be following in the footsteps of his co-presenter James May, who has co-owned a pub, The Royal Oak in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire, since the onset of the pandemic.

During an in-person interview with the drinks business in April (which you can read here), May revealed that Clarkson had indeed consulted him: “He’s been talking about it for a bit, but I haven’t spoken about it with him recently. I once told him that owning a pub was pointless, which it is as a business proposition, nobody should do it think it’s a route to a fortune, but it’s a nice thing to do for your personal sense of worth, and can possibly be seen as an act of community service.”

“His pub would do well,” May continued, “a lot of people would want to go to Clarkson’s pub. If he does the sensible thing and puts a manager in who knows about managing pubs, I think he’ll be okay. He’s in a wealthy part of the country and people will spend money – it’s a far cry from having a corner boozer in Barnsley.”

Of course, Clarkson also has his own lager, Hawkstone, with a cider under the same brand attached to farm manager and Clarkson’s Farm co-star Kaleb Cooper. While it is not hard to find bottles on Amazon, and a number of pubs across the UK (including 44 in London) serve Hawkstone, it certainly couldn’t hurt to have another outlet for it, or any of Diddly Squat’s produce.

If the convoy of cars lining the road to get to the Diddly Squat Farm Shop is anything to go by, there would be huge demand for a pub which comes with the chance of a glimpse of Clarkson.

Shifting gear

But, more importantly than satisfying the legions of Top Gear fans, a Clarkson-owned pub could go some way to raising awareness of the struggles that the pub sector is going through.

Clarkson’s Farm, the hit Amazon Prime show documenting the highs and many, many lows of the presenter’s efforts to create a profitable farm, has been widely-praised for how it has shed light on just how difficult it is to make a living from growing food in the UK.

Covering everything from the bureaucratic red tape that makes a profession of fine margins even less profitable to the fact that it is entirely dependent on nature, with a bad harvest putting farmers at risk of ruin, Clarkson’s three series (with a fourth on the way) have received acclaim, and have won The Grand Tour host several accolades from farming bodies, including a special award for Flying the Flag for British Agriculture for himself and Cooper at the British Farming Awards.

Among those who believe that a Clarkson pub could do for hospitality what the Amazon Prime show did for agriculture is Nik Antona, national chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), who told the drinks business: “CAMRA welcomes the news that someone of Jeremy Clarkson’s media profile may be buying a pub in the Cotswolds. It would be hoped that Clarkson could attract the same level of media attention to the challenges that the pub, brewing and cider making trades are facing, as he has done with the farming industry for his recent ventures.”

“Publicans are facing constant pressure from all angles, as pubs are struggling to survive against the relentless storm of rising costs of goods, employing staff, stubbornly high energy bills, and customers continuing to tighten their belts due to the cost-of-living crisis,” Antona added.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) declined to share its view on the matter.

So, instead of grappling with the problems of having too many spuds or trying to get pigs to mate, Clarkson could find himself dealing with big bills and staff shortages – just two of the issues that have dogged the pub sector. If he were to bring a film crew with him, as well as use his significant social media presence (eight million Twitter followers), he could open the public’s eyes to what it’s really like to run a boozer in modern Britain.

The price of success

He may also be able to continue his crusade against NIMBYist council interference. One of the key arcs of the second series of Clarkson’s Farm was his unsuccessful fight against West Oxfordshire District Council over planning permission for a restaurant at Diddly Squat Farm – one of the things that killed his efforts to open the eatery was a local stargazer concerned about light pollution.

Given that publicans have to deal with all manner of council complaints lodged by locals, often from those who have recently moved next to a pub and are surprised to find that it is noisy at times, Clarkson could also go some way to showing just how difficult it is to run a successful hospitality business while dealing with such hostility.

But the pub’s projected popularity appears to be one major obstacle.

Local media outlet Gloucestershire Live reported in May that some residents were “upset” by the queues of cars to get into events held at the Hawkstone Brewery, which is close to Bourton-on-the-Water, but Liberal Democrat councillor Jon Wareing said that Hawkstone had “been brilliant” about wanting to “work with residents” to alleviate traffic concerns.

“They want to make sure they understand what they are doing – they don’t want events that big. They are looking at measures to mitigate noise impact. Not opening super late,” Wareing said of the brewery. “They have been really constructive. Their intention is not to be a party town.”

But the issues of a backlog on the Fosse will have to be properly dealt with before plans for a pub proceed, as Wareing put it: “Can you imagine if people on Amazon hear Clarkson’s got a pub?”

While residents may have reservations, it seems to be only a matter of time before Clarkson’s tavern goes full steam ahead, and this writer believes that the net benefit for British publicans could be enormous.