Jeremy Clarkson hits out at 'corporate bullying' pubs like his are facing
Jeremy Clarkson’s new pub, The Farmer’s Dog, opened in August 2024 to an enormous queue of customers, and it's scarcely had a free seat in the place since.
Season four of Clarkson’s Farm covered the search, acquisition, and renovation of the site, detailing the broad range of problems facing it and the enormous expense required to bring it up to snuff.
A major issue that needed resolving was the water supply, with one episode showing Clarkson’s team sourcing some precious H2O from a nearby farmer’s mains.
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However, that didn’t resolve the issue in full, and when Thames Water allegedly paid a recent visit it was assumed that they were there to investigate the supply problems.
As it turned out, much to Clarkson’s frustration, it was a regulatory inspection culminating in an eight-page dossier of changes the company claimed were necessary at the pub.
Writing about the experience in The Sun, 65-year-old Clarkson claimed the Thames Water staff and council officials’ visit was unannounced.
"You might imagine that staff at the near-bankrupt fish-killing enterprise known as Thames Water would be working round the clock," he wrote in The Sun.
"Ideally doing something about the hosepipe ban, rising bills and the torrent of sewage being pumped into the region's rivers every day. But apparently not."
He went on to detail the ongoing water pressure issues at the pub, describing how water had to be collected overnight and stored in a 6,000-litre tank to cover water needs for the following day.
Thames Water’s staff allegedly failed to offer any solutions to these supply problems but did carry out various tests on water outlets.
"All we get is a dribble," he observed. Rather than offering solutions, Jeremy alleged that the inspectors carried out numerous tests, including on the dog bowl taps in the garden, before delivering a comprehensive list of mandatory alterations - many of which he branded as 'stupid, petty stuff'.
"They want [a change] made to our Rational steam ovens, which, according to our plumber, would be impossible," he said, pointing to one of the more unusual assessments the staff made.
He added that the notice was intimidating in nature, with the demanded changes to made inside three weeks, ‘or else’.
"This is exactly the sort of corporate bullying that pubs really don't need right now,” he said, noting the extensive pub closures that have swept across the country in recent years.
“If they're now going to be hectored by water companies to change the flow rate of their taps, there won't be any pubs left at all."
FOODBible has reached out to Thames Water for a comment.
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, Restaurants and bars
Rachael Davis